Through Trials and Tribulations
by Krazy Ky-Sta Hatter
Summary: Formally called 'A Life With Rose'. First in the 'Forever by Your Side' series. A rewrite of Season 3 to include Rose. Rose is saved from her fate at Canary Wharf, but the universe has something even bigger in store for her. With Martha stuck in the middle, can Rose and the Doctor sort things out?
1. The End of the Battle, Don't Let Go

_**So, I know there are a few of these out there and this will probably be quite similar too. But I couldn't resist writing about the Doctors life if Rose hadn't been trapped in the parallel universe.**_

_**Sorry I'm more speech orientated here.**_

_**And yes… as usual I chuck in a few surprise twists.**_

_**EDIT: Hey guys! I am in the process of going through and editing my earlier chapters. Fixing the mistakes and adding a few bits in to make the story better. So if you've read this before (like I know some of you have) you may notice a few changes in the story. I think that from now on, if I've edited the chapters I'll mark it with an '*Edited'. It may help for some of my friends who have been nice enough to translate this into different languages, or check things for me. I love you all! You wonderful people. Thank you all SO much for your support.**_

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_**Enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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***The End of the Battle***

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**Don't Let Go**

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Rose watched as hundreds upon thousands of Cybermen and Daleks flew past her. Everything was a blur of metal and white walls. Pure Adrenaline and hope kept her clinging to the magna clamp.

Excitedly she looked over at the Doctor and smiled. They were both there, together, being to be sucked into the Void, but staying here, where they belonged. It was just them now. She had made her choice the day she had met him. She would do anything for him, and anything to stay with him. Even if it meant losing her family.

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Below her, there was a small shower of sparks, and slowly the lever began to slip back. Instantly the smiles dropped from their faces.

"Offline," said the computer.

She strained forward trying to pull it back. It hurt her arms, trying to reach that far while the force of the Void was trying to suck her in. This was dangerous, she knew it was… but she had to do it.

"Hold on!" The Doctor shouted to her.

Around her, the sucking of the void began to lessen, and she knew that she had to get the lever back in place no matter what. As she reached even forward further, she felt herself losing her grip. She wasn't going to reach it and be able to hold on at the same time! She was almost holding on with her bare fingertips. She wasn't even going to be able to reach the lever! She was going to slip!

Just then a huge metal pepper-pot body came flying at her. In fright, she clung back onto the clamp.

Somehow, the Dalek, which had its case open, had hooked on to the lever. The metal was caught on, and it weakly slithered it's slimy tentacles around it too. Now, with something to hold on to, it was trying with all its might to escape. The strength of the desperate Dalek moved the lever, and soon it was back in its right spot. But once again the suction of the Void was too strong. Slowly its tentacles were pulled off, leaving only the metal of its case keeping it safe.

"**MER-CYY!**" the Dalek cried, its one eye staring at Rose pleadingly. And then it was flung from the lever and into the Void.

Rose was too shocked to do anything but hold on. That could have been her… if she had tried for one more second that _would_ have been her! And that Dalek had just saved her life.

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After a moment nothing more came flying by, and the tornado around them began to quieten. She watched as the light on the far wall dimmed. At first there were shadows across it like rippling water and then the shadows crumpled like paper and folded in on itself, until it was nothing but a huge white wall again.

Staring at it in shock, it took a few seconds for her to finally let go of the clamp. She looked over at the Doctor in relief. He was staring back at her, worry and relief and joy all clearly written on his face. Then the next thing she knew she was running into his arms, which were ready to catch her and pull her to him.

"Oh god, I thought I'd nearly lost you for a second!" he cried, not letting go of her. All the air was being crushed from her body and her arms ached, but she really didn't care.

"You'll never get rid of me!" she told him. "Wow, I have never been so thankful for a Dalek in my life!"

"I'm telling you, if it hadn't been sucked into the Void I would have given it a hug." Finally he put her down, but he didn't let go. He didn't dare let her stand more than a few inches away. All he could do was smile at her, and she smiled back.

Soon her smile faltered slightly, and he saw her eyes flick to the yellow dimension jump button.

"The – the breach, it's closed forever now isn't it?" she asked, a hint of sadness pouring into her voice.

"Yes," he told her softly. She nodded, looking at the ground. This had been her choice after all. The Doctor couldn't stand seeing her like this, trying to put on a brave face, even though her heart was slowly breaking. Once again he pulled her to him, but this time it was to comfort her. "There… there might be a way," he whispered into her hair. "To say goodbye. I'm so sorry Rose. The walls of the universe are closed, I can't give you anymore than that…"

"Doctor," she said, looking up at him, her chin pressed against his chest. "You've already given me everything. I'm not alone… And neither is she, she has Pete now. And Mickey's over there too and…"

She buried her head back in his shoulder, unable to carry on. He held her for a while longer, comforting her. And then, soon came the sounds of sirens, voices, and footsteps as people came to investigate and clean up the mess. He was not one for sticking around to answer questions, especially not these types of ones. And Rose was in no state to help clean up. He needed to get her somewhere comfortable, so she could rest.

"Come on," he said to her, gently leading her away. "Let's go home."


	2. The End of the Battle, Goodbye

_***Edited. - Yup, didn't need to do much to this chapter.**_

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**Goodbye**

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It had been a month since the Battle of Canary Wharf (as they were calling it).

Rose seemed just as bright and happy as ever, but he could tell that she was grieving underneath. Sometimes at night he would walk past her room and hear her crying, she would always cover it up, or deny it.

And it was his fault.

Every time he asked though, she would say that it was her choice and that she would rather spend the rest of her life with him. She had admitted that she would need time to get over it, but she stuck to her decision.

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After they left Torchwood, they had gone straight to the Powell Estate to Rose's old flat. It had just about broken her heart to go there. She had talked cheerfully and laughed as she told him about some of the silly things her mum had done, but he could still see the pain there in her eyes. It reminded him of when she had saved her dad and she was showing him the bowling trophy.

They had taken all the things from her room – and some from Jackie's as well – and moved it all into her room on the TARDIS. She had taken all that she could bare. The rest of the things she had never taken form her room, and things that were sentimental to her.

They knew that her mother would be classed as 'missing assumed dead'. Rose would have to check in if she didn't want to be the same. Instead, she decided to leave a note - letter, really - explaining that she was travelling again. She would let the rest of her family decide what to do with the rest of the things in the house.

If she hadn't been settled into the TARDIS, she well and truly was now. She was officially a permanent resident now… He hoped.

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They keep trying to split them up… At least now he had a good feeling, it would take more than two deadly armies and anything else they could throw at them.

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><p><strong>?...DW…?<strong>

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><p>Suddenly there was a small blip on the monitor. He looked up from what he was doing to see a positive reading.<p>

"Rose! Rose, I found one!" he called out to her as he began putting in co-ordinates.

Rose burst into the control room and looked at the screen. He knew she would barely even understand it, but seeing the green light and the shape of the exploding sun on the screen, her eyes lit up with hope.

They had been looking for a strong enough supernova for a few weeks now. He had explained it all to her before. She was just happy to have this chance.

Soon the TARDIS materialised just outside the supernova and she began soaking up its power.

"Stand there," he said pointing to a spot where the projector would capture her. She did as he said, then looked to him for more instructions. "Now, think about her. Call her to you."

Rose closed her eyes, her brow furrowed. She looked like she was saying a silent prayer. Then, slowly a ghostly form appeared in front of her. As Rose opened her eyes, it became solid. They could see Jackie, Mickey, and Pete. The three of them standing there. Upon seeing Rose, Jackie rushed forward.

"Rose!" she cried. "Oh, my Rose!"

"Mum!"

"Oh my goodness, where are you?" she asked.

"In the TARDIS," she replied. "In orbit around a supernova, actually. There's a small crack in space… but it's going to close soon. And doing this takes a lot of power so we're using the energy. We're burning up a sun just to say goodbye." She gave a small hollow laugh.

"Goodbye!" Jackie exclaimed. "But…"

"I can't come through Mum," Rose's voice began to shake. "It would collapse both universes."

"Yeah, so…?" her mum joked. "Oh, you look like a ghost," she said miserably.

"Oh, hold on." The Doctor piped up. He took the Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at the console. Nothing happened on their end, but she assumed that on the other side, the projection of her had become solid.

"C-can I touch you?"

"I'm sorry Jackie," he said walking up beside Rose. "We're just an image. No touch." He sounded truly regretful, and even Jackie could tell that it was genuine. "Jackie," he said again, getting her attention. "I swear to you, on my life, on everything that I am and everything I've ever held dear. I will keep her safe. No matter what, she will always be safe with me."

"Well you better darn well look after her," she said with her usual snap, only this time it sounded sad, even though there was the ghost of a smile on her lips. "That's my little girl, and I won't have anything happen to her… I trust you Doctor," she finally said. "Oh, and Doctor. Thank you."

He nodded his head to her.

"So um, where are you guys anyway?" Rose asked.

"Norway," Mickey told them, finally speaking up.

"Norway?" Rose said almost laughing.

"Yeah, some beach fifty miles out of Bergen. It's called Dårlig Ulv Stranden."

"Dalek?" Both Rose and the Doctor said together.

"Na, Dårl-IG. It's Norwegian for bad or something."

"Dårlig Ulv Stranden, it means 'Bad Wold Bay'," Pete told them. She and the Doctor shared a look.

"Of all the places…" she murmured.

"This image-y thing; it's not going to last forever is it?" Jackie said. "How long have we got?"

"About two minutes," the Doctor told them softly.

"Well um…" Jackie took a moment, thinking what to say. "I'm pregnant."

"Really!" Rose exclaimed.

"Yeah, three months along."

"Three months! But…"

"Huh. Time must move differently over there. I knew it was a head… Or, well, I didn't really check the time when we landed, so it could be the TARDIS."

"We don't know of it's a boy or a girl yet," Pete told them. "But it's going to be the luckiest little baby ever. Because we're going to tell 'em the best stories ever. About its _wonderful_ sister, and her _brilliant_ Doctor. Travelling through time and space in their little blue box. Saving the worlds." At this tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"An – and what about you?" she asked Mickey, wiping them away.

"Well, we've still got Torchwood here. We'll be a little less busy now with the Cybermen gone, but you never know what might crop up in this crazy place," he grinned.

"Mickey the Idiot, protector of the parallel world," the Doctor said happily, making Rose smile. "Hmm, I like it."

"And you two?" Pete asked them.

"Oh, you know us," she said linking her arm through the Doctor's and pulling him closer. "We got the TARDIS. The whole of space and time. I ain't seen everything yet."

"Will I ever see you again?" Rose shook her head sadly in reply.

"Rose…" The Doctor whispered to her, warning her that time was nearly up.

"I'm gonna miss you sweetheart," Jackie said bursting into tears at the exact same moment as Rose.

"I'm gonna miss you too Mummy!" she cried. "I love you."

"I love you too…"

If she was going to say more, Rose didn't hear it. Right then the imaged faded before her.

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Their time was up.


	3. The End of the Battle, Unexpected

**_*Edited._**

**_Just a little picture I did to go with this chapter: www $ ky-sta $ deviantart $ com /art/ Unexpected-278737019 (**_'$'_** = **_'.'_**. Don't forget to delete spaces.)  
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**Unexpected**

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Tears streaming down her face, Rose turned to the Doctor and buried herself in his shoulder. He held her to him, comforting her and allowing her to grieve. It was hard to convince himself that what she said was true. How could he believe she had _chosen_ this, when she was crying harder than he had ever seen her.

He still felt guilty. This was _his_ fault. He had taken her away from them. All of the people she loved, and now they were stuck where she could never even _talk_ to them ever again. He hated seeing Rose in such pain, and there was nothing he could do to help anymore.

At the moment the only thing keeping him from utterly beating himself up was worry.

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Something itching at the back of his mind.

Bad Wolf…

All those times. So many times, everywhere they went. The words 'Bad Wolf'.

Closing his eyes he remembered that moment only a year ago. Rose standing above him, her eyes burning gold as the Time Vortex shone within her.

"_I am the 'Bad Wolf', I create myself. I take the words and scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself…_"

A message. Bad Wolf was a message… so was it just a coincidence or was it something more? A message, a warning… something worse. Something lost in the dark, trying to get out, trying to scream…

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As he opened his eyes he thought he saw – but it had to be a trick of the light or his imagination – something right beside him glowing ever so slightly gold. But he didn't have very much time to think upon it, for looking up he saw that someone else was on the TARDIS.

She had long red hair and was wearing a rather pretty white dress. Oh, and it was a wedding dress.

He let go of Rose, somewhat in shock. Seeing the look on his face she turned to see and let out a small gasp.

"What?" he managed to say.

At the sound of his voice the redhead turned around, yelping in surprise.

And for a second they all stood frozen, looking at each other in confusion. Just for a second. The Time Lord, the grieving girl, and the lost bride.

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><p><em><strong>So… That was just a bit of an alternate ending to 'Doomsday'. A little bit of foreshadowing thrown in. Tell me what you think. I LOVE reviews!<strong>_


	4. The Runaway Bride, There Goes the Bride

_**Yes I'm aware that we are meant to do a disclaimer saying we don't own the characters. But quite frankly I think that's pointless since it's really OBVIOUS that I don't own Doctor Who or any of it's characters. As of yet I don't have any OC's. – Well… consider this my disclaimer. =D**_

_**And on to the next part. Allons-y!**_

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><p>.<p>

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***The Runaway Bride***

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**There Goes the Bride**

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The Doctor and Rose stared in shock at the bride who had mysteriously appeared on their TARDIS. The bride stared right back, just as flabbergasted.

"What?" The Doctor cried for the second time. This made no sense! What was a _human_ doing so many galaxies away from earth at this time in history and how the _hell_ did she get on the TARDIS!

"Who are you?" the bride snapped somewhat disdainfully. She had a rough, slightly winey voice.

"But…" he trailed off, still with no idea.

"Where am I?" she demanded.

"_What?_" The Doctor said again.

"What the hell is this place?" she yelled at them.

"_WHAT?_"

"You can't do that, I wasn't…" he looked up at the console. "We're in flight! That's physically impossible. How did-"

"Tell me where I am. I demand you tell me _right_ now, where am I?" the bride started shouting.

"Inside the TARDIS," The Doctor said bemused.

"The what?"

"The TARDIS."

"The what?" she asked again.

"The TARDIS!" he said more firmly as he ran around to check the monitor.

"The _what?_" she demanded.

"It's called the TARDIS."

"That's not even a proper word!" the bride cried sounding really angry. "You're just saying things!"

"How did you get in here?" The Doctor demanded of her.

"Well obviously when you _kidnapped _me!" She seethed. Rose almost laughed but ended up chocking. The Doctor was becoming more bemused and perplexed by the second and was staring at the woman as if she were mad. "Who was it?" she demanded. "Who's payin' ya? Was it Nerys? Oh my god, she's finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it!"

"Who the hell is Nerys?" he said.

"Your best friend," she replied snarky.

"Hold on, wait a minute. What are you dressed like that for?"

"Oh dear god," Rose buried her face in her hand.

"I'm going tenpin bowing," she replied sarcastically. "What do you think, Dumbo? I was halfway up the aisle!" The Doctor slowly backed away from the ranting woman and started pushing buttons on the console. "I've waited all my life for this," she continued. "I was just seconds away. And then you – I dunno, you drugged me or something."

"I haven't done anything," the Doctor defended himself.

"I'm having the police on you. Me and my husband - as soon as he is my husband - we're gonna sue the living backside off of ya!"

The Doctor didn't reply as he was too busy fiddling with the controls. Rose was trying hard not to laugh watching the entire thing.

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Just at that moment, the woman noticed the doors and ran towards them.

"No, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Don't-" the Doctor cried… but she had already opened the doors.

Straight out onto a view of the supernova.

"You're in space," he told her, calmly walking to stand beside her. "Outer space. This is my… spaceship. It's called a TARDIS."

"How am I breathing?" she asked, for once not yelling or snapping.

"The TARDIS is protecting us."

"Who are ya?"

"I'm the Doctor, this is Rose," he said pointing back to her. "You?"

"Donna," she replied somewhat grudgingly.

"Human?"

"Yeah… Is that optional?"

"It is for him," Rose told her.

"He's an alien." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," he said.

For a moment they just stood looking out into space. It was the longest she had ever been quiet for.

"It's freezing with these doors open."

The Doctor slammed them closed for her. Then he ran up to the console.

"I don't understand it," he said sounding annoyed. "And I understand _everything_. This can't happen. There is no way that a human being could lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside. It must be…" Quickly he turned around and pulled some sort of ophthalmoscope out of his tool belt, turned back to her and looked at her through it. He got so close that Donna had to take a step back. "There's some sort of subatomic connection, something in the temporal field," he began his techno-babble. "Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the chronon shell. Maybe it's something macrobudding in your DNA with the interior matrix. Maybe a genetic-"

_Smack!_ Donna's hand flew around and hit him in the face. Rose covered her mouth and took a step towards him.

"What was that for?" he cried.

"Get me to the Church!" Donna shouted at him shrilly. He looked at her a second in disbelief.

"Right, fine," he cried. "We don't want you here anyway, do we Rose? Where is this wedding?"

"St. Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System," she said. Then finally she looked up at Rose. "And what about her? Is she one of your victims too? Look she's been crying. What did you do to her?"

"I just lost my mother," Rose said in quiet disgust. "I wouldn't have been able to say goodbye if it weren't for him."

"Right, Chiswick," the Doctor said, clearly unhappy that Donna had upset her. But Donna's expression had softened to one of sympathy and guilt.

**?...DW…?**

The TARDIS landed a moment later and Donna was out the doors like a shot. She looked around at the buildings in annoyance.

"I said St. Mary's. What sort of Martian are you? Where's this?"

But the Doctor wasn't listening. He was stroking one of the side panels in concern.

"Something's wrong with her," he said. "It's like she's recalibrating." He ran back inside to the console, nearly knocking Rose over on her way out. "She's digesting. What is it? What have you eaten? What's wrong?" he said to the TARDIS, oblivious to the fact that Donna had noticed how small the box was. "What do you think Rose?"

Rose watched as Donna walked around the TARDIS in bewilderment. She pointed the befuddled Donna out to the Doctor whose eyes lit up.

"Donna," he said. "You've really got to think. Is there anything that might have caused this?" Rose rolled her eyes, that hadn't been what she meant. "Anything you might've done? Any sort of alien contacts? I can't let you go wandering off in case you're dangerous. I mean, have you... have you seen lights in the sky? Or... did you touch something? Something - something different? Something strange? Something made out of a sort of metal or... who're you getting married to? Sure he's human? He isn't a bit overweight with a zip around his forehead, is he?"

By now Donna was looking up at the box in shock, covering her mouth in distress as if to stop the cries.

"It's alright," Rose told her. "Alien technology. It's just bigger on the inside…"

But it was all too much for her, and Donna ran off.

"Doctor!" Rose cried to him. He came out and saw Donna running away, together they ran after her.

"Donna!" he called. "Donna…" he said as they fell into step with her.

"Leave me alone, I just want to get married," she told them.

"Come back to the TARDIS."

"No way, that box is too… weird."

"She's just bigger on the inside, remember. Look at me, I've been living there for two years, I'm fine."

Donna obviously chose to ignore her and looked at her watch instead… what was a bride doing wearing a watch.

"Ten past three, I'm going to miss it."

"Can't you phone them? Tell them where you are," the Doctor suggested as they walked down an ally.

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Haven't you got a mobile?"

"Doctor-" Rose tried to warn him, but Donna had already gone off again.

"I'm in my wedding dress. It doesn't have pockets. Who has pockets? Have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went to my fitting at Chez Alison, the one thing I forgot to say was 'give me pockets'!" The Doctor scratched his head, realising how much of a mistake it had been to say that. The smallest things could set this lady off.

"Here, use mine," Rose said holding it out to her, but she didn't take it.

"This man you're marrying – what's his name?"

"Lance," she replied.

"Good luck, Lance," he said rudely.

"Oi! No stupid Martian is going to stop me from getting married. To hell with you!" Then she was running again.

"I'm – I'm not… I'm not – I'm not from Mars…"

Rose smiled and giving his hand a tug they ran after her.

.

"Taxi!" Donna was calling trying to hail a cab when they caught up. Deciding to help her they tried to wave one down too, but none of them seemed to be stopping.

"Do you have this effect on everyone? Why aren't they stopping?" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Rude," Rose told him with a grin.

"They think I'm in fancy dress."

"Get off the sauce, Darling!" a Taxi drive called out the window as he drove by.

"They think I'm drunk," she said incredulously.

"You're not fooling no one, Mate!" a couple of teens called from their car.

"They think I'm in drag!"

Both Rose and the Doctor were really feeling sorry for her now. Sighing Rose turned to face the road and let out a loud whistle. The other two both covered their ears, but it did the trick.

"Warning please," the Doctor told her as a cab pulled up. They all bundled in, Rose sitting in the middle.

"Saint Mary's in Chiswick, just off Hayden Road. It's an emergency, I'm getting married! Just... hurry up!" Donna said to him in a panic.

"That will cost you, Sweetheart. Double rates today," the driver told her.

"Oh my god, have you got any money?"

"Erm… no. Rose?"

Rose dug around in her pockets eventually pulling out a small metal bar.

"Ooh, my credit stick! Oh, they don't take these yet… No sorry."

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Next thing they knew he was pulling over and kicking them out. Donna was spewing insults and profanities to him.

"And that goes double for your mother!" she yelled as they got out and slammed the door.

"Wow, she's got a mouth on her!" Rose said to the Doctor who grinned and nodded in agreement.

"I'll have him. I've got his number. I'll have him. Talk about the Christmas Spirit."

"It's Christmas?" Rose cried in delighted surprise.

"Again, already?"

"Well, duh. Maybe not on Mars, but here it's Christmas Eve." Donna said.

"Wow… it's been a year since you, well," Rose wigged her fingers at the Doctor to indicate his change of appearance. "God, it's been a _brilliant_ year!"

"It has been one hell of a brilliant year," he grinned in reply holding her hand.

"You two are such a disgustingly adorable couple," Donna told them.

"Oh no, we're not a couple are we?" Rose said dropping his hand.

"No. Nope, just friends, right Rose?" the Doctor said, his voice sounding oddly higher than usual.

"Yip. Just friends. Why does _everyone _think we're a couple?"

Donna stared at the two of them incredulously as if it should be obvious.

"Umm… didn't you want to call your family?" Rose said changing the subject and took out her phone.

"I'll go find us some money… Hang on, why are you getting married on Christmas Eve?"

"Can't bear it. I hate Christmas," she said dialling in a number. "Honeymoon in Morocco. Sunshine - lovely."

"Right… back in a tick," he said before running off to an ATM machine.

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Donna had redialled the phone four times already, no one had answered and the Doctor was still standing in line looking very impatient and agitated.

"Get off the phone!" Donna cried down the line to someone who couldn't hear her. Then she obviously reached someone's voicemail. "Mum, get off the phone and listen. I'm in…" she paused and looked around. "Oh, my God - I dunno where I am! It's... it's a street. And there's WH Smith... but it's definitely Earth."

Rose smiled at this, Donna was catching on fast. But her smile faded when she chucked back the phone and ran up to a woman walking by.

"Excuse me... I'm begging you. I'm getting married, I really am and I'm late and I just need to borrow a tenner and I'll pay you back I promise and it's Christmas."

"Donna, wait. The Doctor will be back in a second," Rose said to her.

"I'm getting married in a few minutes! I can't afford to wait a second!" she cried.

The woman, trying not to laugh, took out a note and gave it to her. Rose chased her as Donna ran to a taxi and jumped in.

"Doctor!" She called. At the ATM, finally with money, he turned around. She saw, with horror, that he had been looking at three masked Santas playing trumpets. As she looked back at Donna she saw that the driver was a Santa too.

"Thanks for nothing Spaceman. See you in court!" she cried getting in and slamming the door.

"No, Donna wait!" she cried. But the car sped of, knocking her to the ground.

"Rose!" the Doctor cried running over to her and helping her off the road before another car could hit her.

"I'm okay," she said limping slightly. "It just got my knee. Doctor, the driver's a Santa!"

"What?"

"The taxi, with Donna. The driver's – one of them," she pointed at the advancing Santas. She remembered last time she met them all too clearly and didn't fancy another meeting.

Thinking quickly, the Doctor pointed the sonic at the ATM and money spurted out. Crowds of people jumped in between them and the Santas, trying to catch the free money.

Supporting Rose, they ran back to the TARDIS.

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Rose leaned heavily on the Console while the Doctor ran around her pushing buttons, pulling leavers and hitting it with a small mallet.

"Behave!" he told the TARDIS. "Ugh, she's not liking this…"

"We're flying?" Rose asked.

"Yip."

"C'mon Old Girl, you can do it," she encouraged.

"Okay, we're nearly up to her. Rose, get that leaver there, when I tell you to, pull." Nodding Rose hobbled around to the leaver and held on. The Doctor ran over to the doors and flung them open. Along side them was Donna in the cab, banging against the windows.

"Open the door!" he called to her.

"Do what?" came Donna's muffled reply.

"Open the door!"

"I cant, it's locked," she cried. Rolling his eyes he took out the sonic and pointed it at the door. Donna pulled down the window. "Santa's a _robot_!" she said incredulously.

"Yes, I know. Now Donna, open the door!"

"What for?"

"You've got to jump."

"I'm not blinking flip jumping! I'm supposed to be getting married!"

The Robo-Santa put his foot down and the sped ahead of them.

"Rose, now!" Rose pushed the leaver and they moved forward, crashing into a car. "I'm reminding you of that next time you complain about my driving!"

"You've been flying her for hundreds of years," Rose laughed.

Once again they pulled up along side the taxi and the Doctor disabled the Robo-Santa.

"Listen to me. You've _got_ to jump!" he told Donna.

"I'm not jumping on a motorway!"

"Whatever that thing is, it needs you. And whatever it needs you for, it's not good. Now, come on!"

"I'm in my wedding dress," Donna told him as if that was reason enough.

"Yes, you look lovely. Come on!"

Fearfully Donna opened the door and shifted so she could jump. But looking down at the moving ground she began to panic.

"I can't do it," she told him in terror.

"Trust me," he said gently, his arms open to catch her. Donna still hesitated.

"Donna you have to trust him!" Rose called. "We have been through so much together. All the times that something has happened, he's been there for me. He hasn't ever let me fall. Not even a black-hole could stop him – and I mean that literally. I trust him with all that I am… Now, jump!"

Donna looked at her and back at the Doctor, whose eyes had filed with tenderness at the statement. A moment later she hurled herself, screaming, from the car and landed in his arms. Quickly he got up from under her, closed the doors and took over the controls from Rose.

And with that they flew away from the taxi and the motorway. Running away with the bride.


	5. The Runaway Bride, One Hell of a Party

**One Hell of a Party**

.

.

"Funny thing is, for a spaceship she doesn't really do that much flying," the Doctor said ironically walking over to a disgruntled Donna. "We better give her a couple of hours."

"Are you alright?" Rose asked her.

"Doesn't matter…" she said sorrowfully.

"Did we miss it?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, you can book another date…"

"Of course we can."

"Still got the honeymoon," Rose added trying to cheer her up too.

"It's just a holiday now," Donna said sadly.

"Yeah. Yeah, sorry," he told her. The three of them looked out over the city from the rooftop they were standing on.

"It's not your fault," she said.

"Oh, that's a change!" he said in surprise. Rose giggled.

"Wish you had a time machine. Then we could go back and get it right."

Rose opened her mouth to say that they probably weren't allowed, but the Doctor cut her off.

"Yeah, yeah. But even if I did, I couldn't go back on someone's personal timeline… apparently."

Sadly Donna sat down near the edge, shivering in the cold wind. Chivalrously the Doctor took of his jacket and put it around her shoulders, before they sat down next to her.

Rose couldn't help feeling slightly jealous. But she already had a jersey on, and Donna had been through a lot in the past hour.

"God you're skinny. This wouldn't fit a rat!" Donna said. Rose smiled and leaned in towards the Doctor. Thin and a little bit foxy.

"Oh, and you'd better put this on," he said pulling a ring from his pocket. It looked like a simple wedding ring.

"Oh, do you have to rub it in?"

"Those creatures can trace you," he said sounding concerned. "This is a bio-damper. Should keep you hidden. With this ring, I thee bio-damp," he popped the 'p' as he slid the ring on her finger.

Rose rolled her eyes and ignored the jealous tug at the back of her mind. The Doctor asking her to marry him, Ha! Ridiculous…

"For better of for worse," Donna said gently. "So come on then. Robot Santas', what are they for?"

"Ah, your basic Robo-Scavenger," he said. "The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. They're trying to blend in. I met them last Christmas."

"Yeah, trying to kill us. Wrecked my… _Mum's_ house," Rose laughed. Oddly what tripped her up wasn't the thought of her mum… rather that it was no longer her home. The TARDIS was her home now.

"What, why?" Donna asked.

"... Great big spaceship? Hovering over London? You didn't notice?"

"I had a bit of a hang over…" she said dismissively. The Doctor raised his eyebrows in disbelief before looking back over the city.

"We spent Christmas day just over there," he said spotting her old flat and pointing it out. "At the Powell Estate. With…"

"With my family," Rose smiled sadly. "Mum, Mickey. Sycorax, Christmas dinner and paper hats… it's all gone now."

The Doctor put his arm around her comfortably and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Best damn Christmas I've ever had," she smiled up at him.

"Thing is," he said changing the subject for her. "What do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the TARDIS? I don't know... What's your job?"

"I'm a secretary," Donna told him.

"God, that's worse than a shop assistant," he said.

"Oi!" cried both girls at the same time. Ignoring their complaints, he took the sonic-screwdriver out of this jacket pocked and started scanning Donna.

"It's weird, I mean - you're not special, you're not powerful, you're not connected, you're not clever, you're not important..."

"Being rude," Rose told him.

"Yeah… still not ginger either." Rose couldn't help but smile.

"Is he always like this? Stop bleeping me!" she wacked the screwdriver aside.

"What kind of secretary?"

"I'm at HC Clements. It's where I met Lance," she said, her voice becoming wistful. "I was temping. I mean, it was all a bit posh really. I'd spent the last two years at a double glazing firm. Well, I thought 'I'm never gonna fit in here'. And then he made me a coffee. I mean, that just doesn't happen. Nobody gets the secretaries a coffee. And Lance - he's the head of HR! He don't need to bother with me! But he was nice, he was funny. And it turns out he thought everyone else was really snotty too. So that's how it started, me and him - one cup of coffee. That was it."

The coffee thing was odd, but Rose couldn't help smiling at how sweet it was. She'd always loved romantics.

"When was this?"

"Six moths ago," she replied as if it were nothing.

"That a bit quick to be getting married," Rose commented.

"Well… he insisted," she replied. But something in the way she said it made the two of them think it was the other way around. "And he nagged, and he nagged me. And he just wore me down and then finally, I just gave in."

"What does HC Clements do?" he asked, being oddly business like.

"Oh, security systems, you know... entry codes, ID cards - that sort of thing. If you ask me, it's a posh name for 'locksmiths'."

"Keys…" he mused.

"Anyway, enough of my CV. Come on, it's time to face the consequences. Oh, this is gonna be so shaming. You can do the explaining, Martian-boy."

"Yeah, he's not from Mars," Rose told her.

"Oh, I had this great big reception all planned," she ignored them again. "Everyone's gonna be heartbroken."

**?...DW…?**

It was clear, walking into the reception hall, that this was not what Donna had imagined. The music was playing a rock 'n' roll Christmas song, people were dancing and partying and having a good time.

Walking in, Donna looked around in disbelief. Slowly one by one people noticed her and stopped dead still. All except for a dark guy who had his back to them and a cheep looking blonde woman. But when the blonde noticed her and stopped, the man finally turned around and the smile melted off his face.

"You had the reception without me?" Donna said angrily.

"Donna… What happened to ya?" the dark guy asked.

"You had the reception without me?" she said a little louder. There was a long awkward silence.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said cheerfully trying to break the tension.

"And I'm Rose," she added and waved to some people.

"They had the reception without me!" Donna turned on them.

"Yes, I gathered."

"Well, it was all paid for - why not?" the blonde said snidely.

"Thank you, Nerys," Donna hissed. Oh, so that was Nerys… Rose could see why Donna didn't like her.

"Well, what were we supposed to do?" A woman said strutting over. Others crowded in behind her. "I got your silly little message in the end: 'I'm on Earth'? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick because I'd love to know-"

Soon everyone was talking over each other complaining or asking how she did it. Donna looked upset and overwhelmed… then burst into tears.

Like that the whole crowd started sighing in sympathy. And the dark man, who must be Lance, took her in his arms. Sneakily she winked at the two of them.

"Oh. She. Is. _Good!_" Rose laughed quietly. "I'll have to try that sometime."

"Na," the Doctor said to her. "You just have to smile…" Rose looked up at him questioningly, but he was already walking over towards the bar to get out of the way.

.

Soon the party was yet again in full swing. Nerys had found herself a new partner and Donna was dancing with Lance.

With the music playing Rose felt kind of left out not dancing. When the tempo of the music slowed down to a song she knew well, she smiled and held her hand out to the Doctor.

"Alright mister. Let's see if you still have the moves," she said.

"Well… I really should keep an eye out…" Taking his advice she smiled adorably at him and battered her eyelashes. "Oh, alright. You twisted my arm," he laughed taking her hand and leading her out on the floor.

They danced for a few songs, some faster and some slow. But people always made room for them so they could dance freely. During a sweet waltz the doctor allowed himself to hold her closer than he usually would. It felt nice to hold her like that as they danced. The scent of her shampoo drifted up to him and he smiled slightly. It was moments like these, in which he could get away with keeping her to himself that he loved. Not that anyone would ever know…

.

After those few songs they were back at the bar, watching Donna have the good time she deserved.

"Rose, could I borrow you phone a moment?" he asked suddenly.

"Sure," she said handing it over. For a second she wondered who he was going to call, but he was only using it for the internet.

She watched as he typed in 'H. C. Clements' and zapped it with the sonic to make it find the page he wanted.

"Oh…" he said when it finally popped up. He hesitated a moment before reluctantly showing it to her.

The screen read: 'H. C. Clements. Sole Prop. TORCHWOOD.'

"Oh," she agreed.

"Ooh, perfect," he pointed out a camera man to her. Smiling they made their way through the crowd to him and pulled him aside.

"Excuse me… do you have the film of the bride disappearing?" he asked.

"Umm… yeah…" the guy said pulling the tape out of his camera bag.

"Can we watch it, we're experts with the supernatural," Rose smiled.

"Yeah sure." He put the tape in. "I taped the whole thing - they've all had a look. They said: 'sell it to You've Been Framed'. I said 'more like the News'. Here we are..."

The tape rolled and together they watched as a smiling Donna walked down the aisle, began to glow like she was surrounded by some sort of gold dust, screamed and disappeared.

"Can't be! Play it again?"

"Clever, mind. Good trick, I'll give her that. I was clapping," the cameraman said as he rewound it. Yet again they watched the video of Donna disappearing in a shower of gold.

"But that looks like…"

"Glitter," Rose joked.

"Huon Particles!"

"What's that?" the cameraman asked.

"That's impossible, that's... ancient! Huon energy doesn't exist anymore, not for billions of years! It's so old that..." suddenly his face fell in realisation and his head snapped around to find Donna in the crowd. "...it can't be hidden by a bio-damper!"

Grabbing Rose's hand they ran out of the main hall and into one of the off rooms where there was a window. Walking slowly up the pathway, they could see two Santas with their deadly trumpets. They came to a stand still and stood there like guards.

Quickly they ran back into the hall.

"Donna! Donna, they've found you," he yelled.

"But you said I was safe."

"The bio-damper doesn't work. We've got to get everyone out."

"Oh my god, it's all my family…" she said.

"Out the back door!" Rose cried. They ran through the hall from door to door. But there were Santas positioned outside each one.

"We're trapped!" Donna said.

One of the Santas held up some sort of remote and Rose gasped and looked around the room. She knew what was coming next.

"Christmas trees…" she said.

"What about them?" The Doctor asked. He had mostly been unconscious when they did the trees last year, but surely she had told him what happened.

"They kill," she said quietly. The Doctors eye's widened as he remembered waking up in time to stop the tree.

"Get away from the tree!" he cried, running out and pulling people away. They joined in, trying to get people as far from them as possible.

"Out! Lance, tell them!" Donna shouted.

"Stay away from the tree!" he yelled yet again.

"Oh, for God's sakes, the man's an idiot!" Donna's mother scoffed. "Why? What's a Christmas tree gonna... oh!" she exclaimed happily making everyone look at the tree.

.

The red baubles were floating off the tree and spreading through the room. Spinning in midair like small red disco balls. People were looking up at them and gasping in amazement and delight. But they knew better…

Suddenly one of them shot down, missing them by inches, and exploded on the ground. People began ducking, running and screaming as the others exploded too. It was chaos, tables were broken, chairs were and guests were flying.

"Can you disarm the bombs with the sonic?" Rose shouted to be heard.

"It won't stop the robots…" he told her. Then he seemed to notice something. "But… Cover your ears." Then he ran up on the stage. "Oi! Santa!" he shouted at them. "Word of advice: if you're attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver..." He picked up and flipped the microphone before speaking into it. "Don't let him near the sound system."

With that he jammed the sonic into the control panel and a loud piercing noise screamed from the speakers. Everyone ducked down and covered their ears. The Robo-Santas began to shake and jiggle, ironically reminding Rose of how Father Christmas was meant to look when he laughed.

Then they began to break apart, and all at once fell to the floor. In less than a second the Doctor pulled the sonic out and was rushing down to look at them.

As Rose, Donna and others helped people up and checked if they were okay, the Doctor pulled the remote control from the rubble of the Santas.

"Look at that - remote control for the decorations!" he said holding it up. "But there's a second remote control for the robots." He picked up a head and began examining it. "They're not scavengers anymore. I think someone's taken possession."

"Never mind all that, you're a doctor - people have been hurt."

Rose rolled her eyes at the misconception of his name.

"Nah, they wanted you alive, look-" he threw up a bauble and Donna caught it. "They're not active now.

"All I'm saying – you could help…"

"Na, gotta think of the bigger picture." He held the broken head up to his ear and listened… "There's still a signal!" he cried tucking the head under his arm and sprinted out the door. Laughing Rose ran out after him.

Outside he sonic-ed the head trying to find the signal.

"There's someone behind this, directing the Robo-Force," he explained as Donna joined them.

"But why is it me? What have I done?" Donna asked.

"If we find the controller, we'll find that out. Oh!" he exclaimed. He pointed the sonic from the head up to the sky. "It's up there. Something in the sky."

.

Donna went off to talk to her meant-to-be-husband while Rose watched as the Doctor tried to pin point the signal.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" he suddenly cried.

"What?" Rose asked.

"It's gone!" Chucking away the head and grabbing her hand they ran back towards Donna. "I lost the signal," he shouted. "Donna, we've got to get to your office, H C Clements. I think that's where it all started. Lance - is it Lance? Can you give us a lift?"

**?...DW…?**

The four of them ran in to the offices, Donna in the lead.

"To you lot this might just be a locksmiths. But H. C. Clements was bought up twenty-three years ago by the Torchwood Institute," the Doctor explained to them as he jumped on a computer.

"Who are they?" Donna asked.

"They were behind the Battle of Canary Warf," he replied, his eyes flicking to Rose. But by now she was so wrapped up in another exciting and potentially dangerous adventure that she didn't mind.

Donna however just stared at them blankly.

"… Cyberman invasion."

"The sky's over London were full of Daleks… Pepper-pot like robot looking things…" Rose put in.

"I was in Spain," Donna said, obvious clicking on to something one of her friends might have told her.

"They would have had Cybermen in Spain," Rose said.

"Scuba diving."

"That big picture, Donna – You keep on missing it!" he told her. "Anyway. Torchwood was destroyed, but H. C. Clements stayed in business."

"You think someone's kept it going… the Torchwood stuff?" Rose said.

"Unfortunately."

"But what do they want with me?" Donna asked. The Doctor stopped beating up the computers and gave his full attention to her.

"Somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy. And that's a problem because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the TARDIS."

"I didn't see any," Rose joked.

"You don't even _remember_ that! Anyway, see?" he turned back to Donna. "That's what happened. Say... that's the TARDIS," he picked up a coffee mug. "And that's you…" he picked up a pencil and began shaking them. "The particles inside you activated. The two sets of particles magnetised and WAP!" he plonked the pencil in the cup. "You were pulled inside the TARDIS."

"I'm a pencil inside a mug?" she said weakly.

"Yes, you are. 4H. Sums you up," he said rudely shaking the mug around to prove his point. "Lance? What was H C Clements working on? Anything top secret? Special operations? Do not enter?"

"I don't know, I'm in charge of personnel," Lance said defensively, as the Doctor used the sonic to pull up the web page he wanted. "I wasn't project manager. Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?"

"You make keys, that's the point," he said focused on the computer. "And look at this…" he indicated to the screen. "We're on the third floor. Underneath reception there's a basement, yes?"

"Yeah," Lance said, not getting the point.

The Doctor jumped up and ran to the elevator and opened the doors.

"Then how come when you look on the lift… there's a button marked 'Lower Basement'? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans. So what's down there, then?"

"Better not be floors and floors of medical experiments," Rose said jumping in. The Doctor grinned at the reference to the New, New York Hospital.

"Are you telling me this building has got a secret floor?" Lance said as if the whole thing was absurd.

"No, I'm _showing_ you this building has got a secret floor," the Doctor said smartly.

"It needs a key," Donna pointed out.

"I don't," he told her sonic-ing the lock. "Right then," he turned to Donna and Lace. "Thanks you two, we can handle this – See you later."

"No chance, Martian. You're the man who keeps saving my life, I ain't letting you out of my sight," Donna said joining them.

"Going down."

"Lance?" Donna demanded.

"Maybe I should go to the police…" he said hesitantly. God he was a wimp!

"Inside!" Donna commanded. Meekly Lance walked in.

"To honour and obey?" the Doctor joked.

"Tell me about it, Mate."

"Oi!" Donna warned. Rose tried to stifle her giggles, making the Doctor smile at her.

Slowly the lift descended.

They came out in a wet, eerie corridor like tunnel that was lit by a green light. It gave Rose an ominous feeling. Why corridors, why so many damn corridors. Everywhere they went… it made her smile.

"Where are we?" Donna asked. "Well, what goes on down here?"

"Let's find out…" the Doctor was grinning with excitement.

"Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?"

"The mysterious H C Clements? I think he's part of it." His attention seemed to be diverted by something. "Oh, look – transport!"

"You have got to be kidding!" Rose laughed as he ran towards five segways.

"I've never been on one of these before!" he said excitedly jumping on one.

Grinning Rose jumped on the one next to him. Donna looked at them oddly before getting on one. Lance hesitated a lot longer. But soon they were scooting down the corridor, a serious expression on their faces. The two girls looked at each other and suddenly cracked up laughing. They just looked so silly!

The Doctor started laugh too, but Lance just stared at them oddly. He really was quite a spoilsport.


	6. The Runaway Bride, Huon Energy

**Huon Energy**

.

.

When he saw a sign that read 'Torchwood - authorised personnel only' he pulled over and jumped off. The other three followed suit.

He opened the door and looked up to see a ladder.

"Wait here," he told them. "I just need to get my bearings. _Don't_ do anything!" he said sternly pointing at all of them. "Especially you Missy," he said to Rose.

"You'd better come back," she told him.

"Like I could leave you," he grinned climbing up.

She had known he was going to come back, but it was nice to hear him say it. And she was sure Donna would be thankful of the reassurance.

.

"Donna," Lace suddenly said. "Have you thought about this… properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?" he exclaimed. Donna just turned and looked at him blankly.

"Oh, I thought July," she smiled, then turned back to watch the Doctor disappear out the top.

They waited a few minutes before he finally came back down.

"Thames flood barrier!" he announced. "Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."

"What?" Donna said in surprise. "There's like – a secret base hidden under a major London landmark?"

"I know, I know love," he said in mock disbelief.

"It's unheard of," Rose said in the same tone.

"Then again… the Eye of London…" he said.

"And Downing Street," she added.

"Well, that was _inside_, but still…"

"Downing Street!" Donna exclaimed.

"We blew it up," Rose said proudly. "Aliens pretending to be members of parliament."

"You know we haven't checked Big Ben yet," the Doctor commented.

"Fingers crossed we do," Rose said as they walked through the corridors. Donna and Lance stared at them in growing perplexity.

.

The Doctor pushed open a door that had the Torchwood logo on it and they found themselves in some sort of laboratory. Filled with tanks of bubbling water… or else… it looked like water.

"Ooh, look at this!" he exclaimed as everyone spread through out the room. "Stunning!"

"What does it do?" Rose asked.

"Particle extrusion," he replied. "Hold on…" he ran over to one of the bubbling tanks and tapped it. "Brilliant," he said. "They've been manufacturing Huon particles. Of course, my people got rid of Huon particles, they unravel the atomic structure."

"Your people?" Lance questioned. "Who are they? What company do you represent?"

Rose tried not to giggle. She was loving this!

"Oh, I'm a freelancer," he said evasively. "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result - Huon particles in liquid form."

He picked up some sort of metal capped test tube full of the liquid Huon and showed it to them.

"And that's what's inside me?" Donna said fearfully.

Gently he pulled the top out and the particles inside the tube began to glow. A second later Donna began to glow gold as well.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed drowning out Rose's gasp.

"Genius," he said closing the tube. "Because the particles are inert - they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you," he explained. "Saturate the body and then... HA!" Donna jumped as he went mad with excitement again. "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle - oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point - SHAZAM!"

_Smack!_ Donna slapped him again, a look of fury on her face.

"What did I do this time?" he said indignantly.

"Are you enjoying this?" she asked him.

He relaxed a little, looking rather ashamed of himself. He could get carried away sometimes and he forgot how hard things could be for some people.

"Doctor…" Rose said in a tiny voice. "I don't think it was just the TARDIS that pulled Donna in."

In confusion he turned around to look at her, wondering what she could mean. His face fell and his eyes widened in panic. Rose stood there in front of him, glowing Huon particles only just leaving her body now.

"What but-" he said running up to her, for once without any answers.

"You said that the only remnant is in the _heart_ of the TARDIS," her voice was shaking.

"No but – I took it all out of you. It's impossible. The Bad Wolf is gone… you'd be dead otherwise."

"D-Doctor, the Wolf. The werewolf back in Scotland. He said something to me. He said: 'there's something of the Wolf about you – you burn like the sun…' Could he have known?"

"No – no this is wrong. Don't worry Rose, I'll fix it."

"Doctor?" Donna said hesitantly. "Are we safe…? You – you just told her that she should be dead. Is it dangerous? Are we safe?"

"Yes," he said far too quickly and somewhat unconvincingly. Both she and Donna gave him a look.

"Doctor," she said. "If the Ti- …if your lot got rid of Huon particles… why did they do that?"

For a moment he just looked into her eyes. "Because they were deadly," he said gently.

"Oh my god…" Donna gasped behind them.

"Then why am I alive? Why am I still okay?" she said. "I've had this stuff in me for a year now…"

"I don't know…" he said lost for words. "But I swear to you, I'll fix it." He turned to Donna. "I'll sort it out, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. We're not going to loose anyone today."

.

Suddenly they were distracted by noises through the room. Doors banged open and something clanged to the ground. Then came a voice over the intercom that resounded around them eerily.

"Oh, she is long since lost!" said a woman's raspy voice.

Slowly the wall next to them slid up revealing a secret room. The first thing they saw was a large cavernous hole. It reminded him horribly of the beasts' pit. Above it was huge spider web that covered most of the ceiling.

Lance bolted for the door in fear.

"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe..." said the raspy voice. "...until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"

Then they noticed the army of Robo-Forms that lined the walls, all pointing their guns at them. Naturally the Doctor ignored the creatures with the guns.

"Someone's been digging," he mused, looking over the edge of the hole. "Oh – very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?"

"Down and down. All the way to the centre of the Earth!"

"Really?" he said in surprise. "Seriously? What for?"

Tentatively Rose peered over the edge, holding onto his arm for balance.

"Dinosaurs," Donna suggested.

"What?"

"Dinosaurs?" she said less certainly.

"What are you on about? Dinosaurs?"

"That film – under the Earth – with dinosaurs… Trying to help!"

"That's not helping," he told her.

"Aw, come on," Rose coaxed him. "It kinda makes sense. 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' – good movie. Sexy looking Brendon Frazer."

"Oi!" the Doctor said in surprise.

"Aw, sorry Doctor. Am I making you jealous?" She grinned. Smiling he rolled his eyes at her. He felt rather embarrassed, he hadn't realised he'd protested aloud.

"Such a sweet couple," the voice hissed. The Doctor chose to ignore that remark. He was quite tired of telling people they weren't a couple.

"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad," he told the voice.

"You're already a madman," Rose whispered jokingly.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"High in the sky! Floating so high on Christmas night," came the reply. Automatically they all looked to the ceiling, despite the fact he and Rose knew that meant she would be up in space.

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!" he yelled.

"Who are you with such command?" the voice commanded.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Prepare your best medicines, Doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart!"

.

There was a bright bluish light and a large figure appeared. She was half human, half… spider? Gigantic, red and all eyes, claws and fangs. She was hissing and thrashing about.

"What is she?" Rose exclaimed.

"Racnoss," the Doctor half told her, half exclaimed in disbelief. "But that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"

"_Empress _of the Racnoss!" she corrected.

"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or…" it dawned on him, "are you the only one?"

"Such a sharp mind," the Empress said almost tauntingly.

"That's it the last of your kind…" He turned to Rose and Donna to explain. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."

"The Racnoss are born starving," she rounded on him, hissing. "Is that our fault?"

"They eat people?" Donna said taken aback.

"H. C. Clements, did he wear those - those erm, black and white shoes?"

"He did!" she exclaimed. "We used to laugh. We used to call him the fat cat in spats."

He looked at her pointedly and silently pointed up to the ceiling. Both she and Rose looked and gasped in horror at the sight of a pair of black and white shoes – still attached to their feet – hanging lifelessly in the web.

"Oh my god!" Donna cried in horror.

"My Christmas dinner!" the Racnoss hissed, making a noise similar to a chuckle.

"You shouldn't even exist! Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss - they were wiped out." He changed between speaking to them and the Empress.

"Except for me."

"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing," Donna said trying to get her attention for some reason.

It was then that Rose saw Lance sneaking up behind the Empress with an axe in his hands. And here she was thinking he was a wimp.

"Oi!" Donna cried when the Empress made to turn. "Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."

"The bride is so feisty!"

"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing. But a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"

With that Lance swung the axe – the Empress swung round in surprise… and he froze with it in mid air. Axe still in the air he looked at them – and began laughing. The Empress began to laugh with him.

Donna and Rose looked taken aback. But the Doctor looked sympathetic and only slightly surprised.

"That was a good one," lance laughed. "Your face!"

"Lance is funny," the Empress said.

"What?" Donna said in confusion.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said to her gently.

"Sorry for what?" she said, not quite comprehending what was happening in front of her. "Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"

"God, she's thick!" Lance sneered. "Months I had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."

For a long moment Donna just looked up at him in confusion and hurt. Sympathetically Rose put her arm around the upset Donna.

"I don't understand," Donna said numbly.

"How did you meet him?" the Doctor asked her softly. It was clear he was aiming at something.

"In the office…"

"Oh… he made you coffee," Rose told her sadly.

"What?"

"Every day, I made you coffee," Lance said as if he were speaking to an idiot.

"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months," the doctor told her as kindly as he could.

"He was poisoning me."

"It was all there in the job title - the Head of Human Resources."

"This time it's personnel," Lance joked.

"But… we were getting married," Donna said sounding hurt.

"Well, I couldn't risk you running off," he told her. "I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle!

Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap, yap, yap – 'oh, Brad and Angelina - is Posh pregnant?' X-Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia!"

Donna stood there taking the verbal abuse, a look of growing hurt on her face. Rose hugged her closer

"I deserve a medal!" he stated.

"Oh, is that what she's offered you?" the Doctor asked. "The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort."

"It's better than a night with her," he said cruelly, pointing to Donna.

"But I love you," Donna said pathetically.

"That's what made it so easy," he shrugged. "It's like you said, Doctor - the big picture.

There I was working in the city. Every day I was climbing that ladder. – Then it happened. Your Cybermen, your Daleks in the sky. Everything I've spent my life doing just seemed so small. What's the point of it all if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to... go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"

"Pig," Rose muttered.

"Who is this little physician?" The Empress asked.

"She said Martian," lance said meaning Donna.

"Oh, I'm sort of... homeless," The Doctor said in his usual evasive manor. "But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"

"I think he wants us to talk," Lance said incredulously.

"I think so too."

"Well tough," Lance said. "All we need is Donna!"

"Kill this chattering little Doctor-man!" the Empress commanded.

"Don't you dare hurt him!" Rose shouted standing in front of him, glaring at the Racnoss.

"No, no, it's alright," he told her, not wanting her in danger.

"And his pretty little kind girl too!" the Empress added.

And she really shouldn't have done that.

"At arms!" she called. Every single Robo-Form in the room pointed their guns at the two of them.

"Ah, now except-" he tried to talk his way out.

"Take aim!"

"Well, I just want to point out the obvious-"

"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots," she assured him.

"Just- just- just- hold on, just a tick, just a tiny- just a little- tick," he stuttered trying to get the Empress to listen. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it... the spaceship comes to her."

He took the tube of Huon out of his pocket and opened it. Then dragged Rose behind Donna so the Empress would mistake her glowing for that of Donna's.

"Fire!" they heard the Empress shout as the TARDIS appeared around them in a tornado of blue particles.

"Off we go, then!" the doctor said joyfully, yet again rushing to the console.


	7. The Runaway Bride, The Centre

**The Centre**

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"Oh, you know what I said before about time machines?" he said turning back to Donna. "Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it."

"But I thought we couldn't use the TARDIS to interfere?" Rose said.

"We're not interfering," he told her. "We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must have been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this!"

"You don't mean…"

"Rose, Donna – we're going further back than I've ever been before."

"Wow, end of the world and now the beginning. Aren't I lucky," Rose grinned. She turned to Donna to tell her about her first adventure with the Doctor and noticed that she had her back turned and her shoulders were shaking with silent tears.

Silently she took her in her arms and sat her down on the chair. All she did was hold her. She knew that there was nothing she could say. Nothing that would comfort her or reassure her that things would be okay. Donna had just had her heart broken. That took a while to heal and words didn't help.

So all she _could_ do was hold her close and let her know that she wasn't alone.

.

"We've arrived," the Doctor told them quietly. "Want to see?"

"I suppose," Donna said unenthusiastically.

"The scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best," he said walking over to the doors. Rose helped Donna stand up and then was right behind him. Gently he took her hand. "Come on," he said encouraging Donna to join them.

Slowly she made her way to the two of them, a resigned look on her face.

"No human's ever seen this," the doctor told them. "You'll be the first two."

"All I want to see is my bed," Donna said miserably.

"Rose Tyler, Donna Noble – welcome to the creation of the Earth."

He opened the doors and they looked out upon a spectacular sight. The darkness of space around them was lit up with colourful clouds of dust. Belts of rocks floated through the air.

"It's _beautiful!_" Rose gasped.

"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen," the Doctor replied.

Donna noticed with a sad smile that he hadn't been looking out at the new solar system, but rather at Rose as he said it. She wished that just once Lance would have looked at her the way the Doctor was looking at Rose now.

Quickly before Rose caught him looking, his eyes flicked out to space.

"We've gone back 4.6 billion years," he told them. "There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn," he pointed to the bright glowing ball in the middle of the colourful dust clouds.

"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked.

"All around us… In the dust," he said quietly.

"Puts the wedding in perspective," she said. "Lance was right. We're just… tiny"

"No, but that's what you do. The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

"So we came out of all of this?" she asked.

"Isn't it brilliant?" Donna gave a weak smile.

They watches as a large rock drifted lazily past them.

"I think that's the Isle of Wight," she joked. Rose giggled.

"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get…"

"The Earth," Rose finished for him, a huge smile on her face.

"But the question is… what was that first rock?"

At that moment a huge star like rock emerged through the space clouds. The Doctor really did have a very uncanny sense of timing.

"Look," Rose said pointing it out.

"The Racnoss…" he breathed. He ran back to the console, turned one of the wheels and looked at the monitor.

"Hold on," he said. "The Racnoss are hiding from war! What's it doing?"

Suddenly the star shaped ship began to glow slightly as dust and rocks began to be sucked towards it like a tornado. Chucks of rock stuck to it like a magnet.

"Exactly what you said,' Donna exclaimed. The Doctor ran back to the door with them and looked out.

"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth… they _became_ the centre of the Earth. The first rock."

At that moment the TARDIS gave a violent shudder, the Doctor just managed to cling to the rails, but Rose nearly fell out. At the last second Donna regained her footing and pulled her back inside.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Trouble," the Doctor replied slamming the doors. He ran back to the console and desperately tried to pilot it, but it was beyond his control. No matter what buttons he pushed and leavers he kicked up it wouldn't work.

"What the hell's it doing?" Donna yelled.

"That little trick of mine – particles pulling particles. It works in reverse. They're pulling us back!"

"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?"

"Backseat driver," he muttered in annoyance. "Oh! Wait a minute!" he bent down and pulled the extrapolator from somewhere under the console.

"The extrapolator!" Rose cried in surprise. "What are we going to do with that?"

"Well, it cant stop us, but it should give us a good bump! Now!" he cried whacking it with a mallet just as they materialised. They dematerialised and then materialized a second later. They jumped out to find themselves in the Torchwood base corridors.

"We're about 200 yards to the right. Come on!" he said.

The three of them began to run. They finally stopped when they came to the doorway that led up to the flood barrier.

"But what do we do?" Donna asked, scared and out of breath.

"I don't know," he said listening through a door with a stethoscope. "I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history."

"A really good history," Rose laughed.

"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles – but what for?"

"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. If Huon particles cease to exist, the Racnoss will stop," he explained.

Suddenly a robotic hand came from nowhere and covered Donna's mouth dragging her off. Just before Rose could get the Doctor's attention a hand came down over her mouth and she was taken away too.

"They've just been in hibernation for billions of years," the Doctor continued, not noticing the absence of his friends. "Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet." He turned around in concern to find the corridor completely empty. "Oh!" he groaned. "Rose?" he looked up and down the corridor. "Donna…? Rose!"

There was no answer and desperately he opened the door with the sonic… only to come face to face with a Robo-Form and its gun.

**?...DW…?**

"I bloody _hate_ you!" Donna seethed at lance.

He, Donna and Rose were all strung up in the web, hanging just above the hole. If they fell, they would go right down to the centre of the Earth… and the Racnoss.

"Yeah, I think we've gone a bit beyond that now, Sweetheart," he replied tartly.

"My golden couple," the Empress chuckled below them. "Together at last – your awful wedded life. Tell me; do you want to be released?"

"Yes!" the three of them shouted.

"You're supposed to say 'I do'!" she cackled.

"Ha, no chance," Lance said.

"Say it!"

"I do," he said grudgingly in a sour tone. He looked at Donna as if this were all her fault.

"I do," Donna shouted looking way from him.

"Oh, what the hell… I do too," Rose grinned. She wasn't quite as scared as the other two because she had total faith in the Doctor. And she knew he was out there somewhere.

"I don't!" the Empress cackled evilly. "Activate the particles. Purge every last one!"

The three of them began to glow with the golden light.

"Ah… what's this?" she asked seeing Rose glow too. "Another catalyst. Excellent! Release!" she cried.

All the Huon particles shot from their bodies, and went straight down the hole.

"The secret heat unlocked. And they will waken from their sleep of Ages!"

"Who will? What's down there?" Donna asked fearfully.

"How thick are you?" Lance scoffed.

"My children, the long lost Racnoss. Now will be born to feast on flesh!"

"Oh, no they won't!" Rose cried fiercely.

The Empress looked back up at her and frowned. The particles that had been ripped from her body had not gone down with the rest of them. They swirled around her like a tornado, then in an instant they were sucked back into her body.

But now Rose was different. Her usual kindness was all but completely gone as she looked at her foe. She still glowed golden with the energy and so too did her eyes. She was the Bad Wolf.

"What are you?" the Empress demanded.

"I am the Bad Wolf," her voice had an eerie echo that seemed to come from nowhere. "I am a Goddess of time and space. The Vortex lives within me."

With a glow the web around her snapped. She slid down it like it were a fire pole and right before she reached the end and fell into the pit, she took a step – and materialized on the ground in front of the Empress. Behind her was the sound of chirping and scuttling spiders climbing up from the centre of the Earth, but she ignored it.

"I can see all you have done, all the worlds that have come to dust at your feet," Rose continued, her eyes still alight with the golden sparks. "And I can see all you will be and all you shall never be. You shall burn. Like a dying star – you shall burn."

Then the light faded from her and she gasped as the Bad Wolf released her.

"Burn shall we?" the Empress hissed in fury. "We shall see about that. Grab her!"

Two of the Robo-Forms detached themselves from the line and took a hold of her. As much as she struggled she couldn't break loose.

"The Web-Star shall come to me. And now, my babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web."

"Use her! Not me! Use her!" Lance cried in desperation.

"Oh, my funny little Lance! But you were quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve."

At her words the web around him loosened and he tumbled out, falling, screaming, down into the hole.

"Lance!" Donna cried despite herself.

"Harvest the humans. Reduce them to meat." Above them they heard the faint sounds of cashing, as if something was happening above them. "My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them! …So you may as well unmask, my clever little Doctor-man."

A Robo-Figure who was climbing the stairs stopped and cocked its head.

"Oh well. Nice try," the Doctor said removing the cloak and mask. "You okay, Rose?" he asked.

"I'm fine, just hanging out with some of our friends here," she called up to him. She was only lying a little bit. Physically she was fine, and the situation was fine. But inside she was still freaking out about what had just happened to her. She could remember all of it, the way her mind had widened. Being able to see all that is and was. It didn't hurt like the Doctor said it should have, but it still scared her. She had called herself a goddess!

The Doctor checked to see that Rose was relatively safe before looking up to Donna. "I've got you, Donna," he called. Then he aimed the sonic-screwdriver up at her.

The web around her began to snap.

"I'm gonna fall!" she cried.

"You're going to swing!" he corrected her. And just as he said, when the web snapped she swung down towards him. "I've got ya," he said, his arms open to catch her. But she swung lower than he anticipated and smacked into the wall below him with a dull thud. "…Oh… Sorry." He looked over the railing to see Donna splattered on her back.

"Thanks for nothing," she said.

"The Doctor-man amuses me," the Empress laughed.

.

"Empress of the Racnoss - I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now."

"These men are so funny."

"What is your answer?" he demanded.

"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline," she laughed again.

"Then what happens next is your own doing," he said quietly.

"I'll show you what happens next," she hissed. "At arms! Take aim!" All the Robo-Forms along the wall pointed their guns at him. "And-"

"Relax," he said.

At his command they all went limp; slumping over themselves like the clockwork repair droids they had faced once.

Rose pushed the two that had been holding her away and ran up the stairs to him, snagging Donna's hand on the way.

"What did you do?" Donna called up to him as they ran.

"Guess what I've got, Donna?" he grinned, pulling a remote control from his pockets. "Pockets!" he said cheekily.

"Very deep pockets," Rose smiled, reaching him.

"They're just bigger on the inside that's all," he grinned back.

"Robo-Forms are not necessary," the Empress said in annoyance. "My children will feast on the flesh of a Goddess and a Martian."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars," he told her calmly.

"Then where?"

"My home planet is far away and long-since gone. But its name lives on. _Gallifrey_."

The Empress hisses and thrashed about. "They murdered the Racnoss!" she cried in fury.

"I warned you," he said softly. "You did this." He put his hand in his pocket again and bought out a handful of shiny red baubles.

"No! No, don't! No!" the Empress panicked.

Some of the baubles floated around the Empress and crashed at her feet surrounding her in flame. Others that he threw crashed into the walls and water came flooding through and swept down the hole like a drain.

"My children!" the grief stricken Empress wailed.

"Doctor," Rose whispered in horror. "Doctor, please stop. What are you doing?"

He looked up at her in surprise and the dark hateful light in his eyes left. He looked down at the Empress as if realising what he'd done. Suddenly, struggling through the torrent of water pouring down on them about eight dog-sized Racnoss clambered out of the hole. No more seemed to come.

"Go!" he called. "I'll spare you and your remaining children. Find a new planet and never come to this one again. Now run!" he turned to Rose and Donna. "Come on! Time I got us out."

The Empress pushed her way through the flames and scooped up her young. "Transport me!" she cried. Then in a flash of light, she and the baby Racnoss were gone.

"Oh, no!" Rose gasped. She turned on her heal and sprinted up the stairs. The Doctor and Donna right on her tail.

They emerged up into the night just as explosions went off. She ran to the edge of the barrier to see the star shape Racnoss ship blown to pieces and burn. Donna and the Doctor joined her, each standing on one side. The Doctor grabbed her hand sympathetically.

"Like a dying star, you shall burn," Donna said quietly.

"What's that?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, nothing," Rose told him. "Just something she said."

Donna looked at her questioningly and she gave the slightest shake of her head. The Doctor sighed heavily.

"She used up all her Huon energy," he said sadly. "It left her defenceless."

"There's just one problem," Donna said.

"What's that?"

"We've drained the Thames!" she laughed.

The three of them looked out over the near empty Thames. Boats were stranded, sounding their horns. The three of them suddenly burst into fits of laughter.


	8. The Runaway Bride, Christmas

**Christmas**

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.

"Let's just wait a minute and we can go get the TARDIS," the Doctor told them.

"Won't it have been swept away?" Donna asked.

"Na, she'll be alright."

Sighing Rose and Donna sat down on the edge of the barrier with their feet hanging over the edge while the Doctor took a look at something in the distance.

"You saw that happening, didn't you?" Donna said quietly so the Doctor wouldn't hear. Silently Rose nodded. "Why didn't you tell him, about the Wolf thing?"

"It would only worry him," she replied. "He'd get all frantic and it would drive him crazy trying to figure out what's wrong… well, crazier. I don't want to worry him."

"What are you two on about?" he suddenly asked appearing behind them and making them jump guiltily.

"Just talking about how crazy you are," Rose covered it up as he helped her to her feet.

"Aw, come on. You love me for it!" he grinned. Rose's eyes widened and his face fell ever so slightly as he realised what he'd said. Then she giggled like she should have, hoping that it didn't sound to nervous. "Rose," he said seriously. "I forgot to say... Thank you." He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"What for?"

"For stopping me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't…" he repressed a small shudder. "Before I met you I probably would have done it too. You make me more… well, human."

"And human's a good thing?" she smiled.

"Yeah," he smiled. "Yeah it is."

Grinning widely, Rose hugged him.

"I'll always be here for you, then."

Their faces were close that their noses were almost touching. He had to resist the urge to lean forward just _ever_ so slightly and kiss her. He smiled at her and clearing his throat a little he let her go.

"Right, come on you two," he said jumping down the hole and down the ladder. The girls followed suit and they headed to where they had left the TARDIS.

**?...DW…?**

"There we go," the Doctor said stepping out of the TARDIS. "Told you she'd be alright. She can survive anything."

"More than I've done," Donna said.

Taking out the sonic, he scanned her. "Well, all the Huon particles have gone. No damage. You're fine," he said clearly missing the point.

"Yeah, but apart from that… I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day… Sort of."

"There was no way to save him," Rose told her sympathetically.

"He deserved it," she said harshly. After a moment her face fell. "No he didn't," she said sadly. She turned and looked at her house. "I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."

"Best Christmas present they could have," he smiled at her. They all looked at the house and saw Donna's parents hugging. "Oh, no, I forgot," he said suddenly. "You hate Christmas."

"Yes, I do."

"Even if it snows?" he said sneakily.

Taking a step backwards he reached inside the TARDIS door and tweaked a switch somewhere. A bright light glowed on the top and shot into the sky like a firework. When the lights began to fade, snow began to fall…

"I can't believe you did that!" Rose cried hugging him. She stayed hugging his side and he put his arm around her shoulder. Donna was laughing.

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation," he grinned.

"Merry Christmas," Donna smiled.

"Merry Christmas."

"And you. So," he said. "What will you do with yourself now?"

"Not getting married for starters," she joked. "And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and do something."

"Well you could…" Rose started then looked up at the Doctor questioningly.

"Oh, yes," he said realising what she was getting at. "You could always come with us if you want."

"Oh, no I couldn't," Donna said shaking her head. "Just, a life like that. I couldn't handle it. I suppose you two are used to it. My guess is that it's like that for you every day."

"Only every other day," the Doctor corrected her.

"I – I just can't," she said.

"It's okay," Rose told her, smiling.

"Tell you what I will do though – Christmas dinner. Mum's a good cook but she's terrible with amounts, cooks enough to feed an army."

He looked to Rose to see if she wanted to go, but he saw something in her eyes that made him think she wasn't ready for a domestic Christmas again, just yet.

"I think we'll pass," he said kindly. "Besides, we have other planets to save, don't we Rose?" he joked.

Smiling Donna stepped forward and hugged Rose who had detached herself from the Doctor's side. Then she turned and hugged him.

"Am I ever going to see you again?" she asked.

"If we're lucky."

"Good. Just… promise me one thing; don't loose each other. Because Doctor you damn well need that girl. There has to be someone there to keep you in check.

"Oh, there is no way I'm letting this one go," he smiled at her. "Thanks, Donna. Good luck – and just… be magnificent."

"I think I will, yeah," she laughed.

Smiling he and Rose tuned and stepped inside the TARDIS.

"Oh, Rose?" Donna called.

"Yeah," she replied.

"I've got something for you, hold on a minute." She ran across to her front door, reached up and grabbed something and ran back. "Just a little excuse," she whispered pressing something that felt oddly like leaves into her hand.

"Good bye, Donna," she said happily.

"Good bye, Rose."

.

Rose stepped back into the TARDIS and closed the door. She laughed when she was what it was Donna had given her.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked.

"Mistletoe!" she laughed holding up the sprig.

"Aw, brilliant!" he cried. "We can use that if we ever meet someone in the royal family!"

Laughing even more Rose walked up to him, held the mistletoe above his head and kissed him on the cheek.

"Got to watch out for those big bad wolfs," she grinned. And skipped off.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To get some decorations," she told him. "I don't know about you, but I'm not missing out on Christmas. How about I set up in the Library? We can have a dip later on."

"Rose Tyler, that is brilliant," he grinned. Smiling he watched her turn and head down the corridor.

Happy as he was something was unsettling him. Something Rose had just said. There was something wrong and it had something to do with Rose. It worried him to no end.

If only he could remember…

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_**Yeah, sorry… I know Rose doesn't have **__**many lines other then when it's a major part for her. I'm working on that.**_

_**And I hope I explained why Rose is Bad Wolf clear enough for you. But if not: Not quite all of the particles were taken out of her in 'Parting of the Ways'. There weren't many, but it was enough to let her live. They lay dormant and multiplied over the year. When the particles activated in Donna, they reactivated in Rose. And now they will keep changing her. The Bad Wolf is part of her now, hence why she can remember.**_

_**.**_

_**Now usually I hate those whiney, desperate people who ask for reviews at the end of every chapter... Yeah… I'm gonna be desperate here =D**_

_**But in my defence it's technically at the end of each story.**_

_**So anyway: Hope you liked it – More to come – Please review!**_


	9. Smith, Jones and Tyler, Getting In

_**Hello, I'm back again and here's part 3! If you've gotten this far and you're reading going: "I'm getting bored of this." – Just KEEP READING! Things are going to get pretty twisted soon enough and you never know when something might happen between Rose and the Doctor.**_

_**Oh… and because I cant be bothered writing one out – Disclaimer. (You get the point)**_

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***Smith, Jones and Tyler***

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**Getting In**

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"So what's wrong with this place?" Rose asked as they walked towards the hospital.

"Not sure yet, but I'm picking up some strange energy readings," the Doctor told her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked him in concern. "You know - hospitals and all…"

"Aw Rose, I'll be fine," he grinned. But she saw that little spark in his eye that she recognised as a deep-seated un-comfort. She saw it in his eyes when he was too close to a cat.

.

As they got closer to the hospital he grabbed his stomach as if her were in pain. Rose put his arm over her shoulder and pretended to support him into the waiting room. He let out a groan.

"Hamming it up there," she whispered to him.

"Some people can be rather melodramatic – apparently I'm one of them."

"Don't I know it," she grinned back. "Excuse me?" she said to a passing nurse. "My friend, he's – he's not well. It's really bad…"

Soon they were being taken to a small room where the Doctor was checked and questioned. Thankfully he knew how to word it just so that it didn't sound too minor that they would be sent home in a few hours and vague enough that they didn't know what it was.

Eventually they ended up in a curtain drawn cubicle. The Doctor was lying in bed wearing hospital pyjamas– Rose was only just managing to contain her laughter over this. She had a few books and a bag of food and was sitting in the chair beside him.

"Right," said Doctor Stoker. "We're just going to keep you in over night for observation Mr Smith. And I'm sorry, but your friend can't say much longer."

"What?" Rose started. "Why?"

"Visiting hours end in a few minutes. You can go home and relax, Mr Smith will be just fine here."

"Oh…" She said forlornly.

"Is something the matter?" Doctor Stoker asked her.

"W-well it's just… We're travellers see. Just passing through. And I don't really have anywhere to stay… I suppose I could sleep in the car…"

"No, no. I won't hear of that," he told her. "I'm sure we can make an exception for one night. Now, I'll be around in the morning… Ah, I may have a class of medical students with me. I hope you don't mind?"

"No not at all," the Doctor replied.

Then Doctor Stoker left the two of them alone.

"Look at you!" the Doctor laughed. "That was quite the tale Miss Tyler. Though, you could have stayed in the TARDIS. It would have been much more comfortable."

"What? And leave you on your own to get into trouble?"

"Oi!" he cried.

"It's true! I leave you alone for more than a few minutes and you get into all sorts of trouble!" she laughed.

"I do not."

"New earth."

"That was you."

"Van Statten's base."

"You got stuck with a Dalek," he rolled his eyes.

"You nearly got experimented on. The Cardiff rift."

"That was Jack."

"… Good point. Daleks on Satellite 5."

"Sent you home for a reason."

"The pit on Kroptor."

"You- Okay yeah, you have me there. That was pretty bad. But from what I hear it was bad on your end too."

"It was, but no one thought you had a way out."

"From what I heard they had to sedate you just to get you out!" he laughed.

"Like I could have left you there," she defended herself. The Doctor just smiled in reply.

.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking and reading. When a nurse came by he would be quieter and pretend to be felling horrible. And with Rose sneaking him food he could – thankfully – truthfully tell the nurses that he couldn't eat anything.

As night drew on and Rose grew tired he offered her his pillow but she refused it. So he insisted that they at least share. She was perched in her chair at a slightly odd angle, her head resting on his pillow, her face just inches from him.

Smiling he watched her sleep. She was so cute. And it was rather different too. When she was awake she was always so energetic. She was bouncy and happy or working hard to keep them safe. But now, lying here asleep, she looked so peaceful. He had never seen her so still.

Tentatively he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She wriggled a little, and mumbled in her sleep. A small smile had crept onto her lips.

.

He wished there were more moments like this. Where it was just him and her. And he could act they way he wanted without having to hide it from her.

He wished he could tell her.

He wished things were different.


	10. Smith, Jones and Tyler, The Moon

**The Moon**

.

.

When Rose woke in the morning she found the Doctor staring at her, a small smile on his face. It would have been kind of romantic if she knew it wasn't like that for him, or if it didn't seem like he was laughing at her.

"What?" she asked him, checking to see if she'd been dribbling or if he'd drawn on her.

"Did you know you make little squeaky noises when you sleep?" he grinned. Pulling the pillow out from under his head she whopped him one.

"Oi!" he protested. "That's not nice, I'm a sick patent!" she just grinned her cute smile where she stuck the tip of her tongue between her teeth and his playful sulk melted away.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

"No. Every time I tried to leave a nurse caught me. I had to use the bathroom excuse half a dozen times." Rose giggled. "But listen to that, a storm's coming in."

Standing she went and looked out the window. Most of the city was bright and sunny. But just above them it looked like it was ready to throw a tornado at them.

"That's odd," she said sitting back down in her chair. "The storms only over us as far as I can tell." She reached down into her bag to grab some breakfast but dropped whatever she had with a yelp and retracted her hand as if she'd been bitten.

"What?" he said worryingly.

"Nothing… just a _really_ big electric shock," she told him.

"Hmm… Something's coming," he stated. "But I don't think it's a storm."

**?...DW…?**

"Now then, Mr Smith, a very good morning to you. How are you today?" Doctor Stoker said coming back, as promised, with medical students.

"Aw, not so bad, still a bit, you know… Blah," he replied much too cheerfully.

"Who's she, what's she doing here?" one of the students asked.

"This is Mr Smith's friend. As they are from out of town and it was such late notice I allowed her to stay here for one night," Doctor Stoker explained.

"Hi," Rose smiled at them.

"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me," he said somewhat sarcastically.

A pretty dark girl, not that much older than Rose stepped towards them.

"That want very clever, running around outside, was it?" she told him.

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, genuinely confused.

"On Chancellor Street this morning. You came up to me and took your tie off."

"Really? What did I do that for?" he asked.

"I don't know, you just did."

"Not me," he told her. "I was here, in bed. Ask Rose, or the nurses."

"Well, that's weird," Miss Jones said firmly. "'Cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother?"

"No, not anymore. Just me… Well, I have Rose now. But family…"

"As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones…" Doctor Stoker said.

"Sorry. Right." She pulled her stethoscope from around her neck, put them on and placed it on his chest. A puzzled look came across her face and the Doctor smiled. She moved the stethoscope to the other side of the chest and her eyes widened slightly, he winked at her.

"I weep for future generations. Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?" Doctor Stoker said rather snidely.

"Um, I don't know," Miss Jones said weakly. "Stomach cramps?"

"That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." He picked up the chart that hung at the end of the bed. A visible electric shock jumped out at him from the clip and he dropped it immediately.

"That happened to me this morning," Miss Jones said, clearly thinking it was a little more than a coincidence.

"I had the same thing on the door handle," said one of the male students.

"And me, on the lift," said another.

"Looks like I'm not the only one then," Rose muttered with a grin. She must have been with the Doctor too long because the thought of impending danger was very exciting.

"That's only to be expected," Doctor Stoker said in his know-it-all tone. "There's a thunderstorm moving in and lighting is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by – anyone?" he asked as if it were a science lesson.

"Benjamin Franklin," the Doctor answered like an over eager school kid.

Doctor Stoker looked mildly surprised. "Correct!" he said.

"My mate Ben," the Doctor continued happily. "That was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked."

"Quite…" Doctor Stoker said sounding concerned.

"And then I got electrocuted!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Moving on," Doctor Stoker said quickly. "I think perhaps a visit from the psychiatric…" Rose heard him say quietly to one of the students.

The Doctor grinned and she hit him gently on the arm.

"Benjamin Franklin!" she exclaimed.

"What? It was fun, but it hurt like anything."

"They're going to think you're mad! And what about that girl, she knows about your hearts."

"Na, it'll be fine. Besides she knows me… apparently. And I've been a patient in a hospital before."

"Really?" she asked. She never really thought that the Doctor got sick.

"Oh yeah, I got shot. It was kind of creepy actually… I woke up in the morgue…"

"And that's why you don't like hospitals?" she said.

"One of many reasons."

**?...DW…?**

"Doctor have you seen the rain!" Rose cried as the Doctor came back having finally had the chance to do some exploring. She looked back towards the window where she could see the rain falling _up_.

"Yes, I have. Brace yourself."

Quickly they both grabbed onto something stable and low. Then the hospital began to shake, things fell down on people and patients, doctors and nurses all cried out in alarm. When the shaking had stopped it was oddly darker.

When she heard bewildered and panicked exclamations, Rose ran out to see what was wrong. People were gathered at the windows, staring out in horror. She pushed her way to the front and wasn't sure to be worried or excited by what she saw.

They were on the moon. All around them stretched white planes and craters and hills. And up in the sky above them was the Earth.

Then people began screaming and shouting. Patients clung together for comfort. It was horribly loud.

"Alright, everyone back to bed. We've got an emergency, but we'll sort it out," the dark girl from before said striding through the room.

She ran back to their cubicle, for some reason the curtains had been drawn.

"Doctor!" she cried stepping inside. "_Oh my god!_" she cried in embarrassment and turned around. The Doctor was standing on the other side of the bed, getting changed. He was almost entirely naked.

"Humans," he sighed. "I'll never understand why seeing someone get changed is such and awkward thing for you lot."

"We're on the moon," she told him weakly. Secretly it was less of an awkward thing for her seeing him change as it was that it would be awkward if he knew she was looking. And she was only looking away to prevent herself from sneaking a peak.

"It's real. It's really real!" they heard the dark girl exclaim. "Hold on…"

"Don't!" cried one of the other med students. "We'll lose all the air!"

"But they're not exactly air tight," she argued. "If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?"

"Very good point!" The Doctor – now fully clothed - said loudly sweeping the curtain aside. "Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?"

"Martha," she replied.

"And it was Jones, wasn't it?" Martha nodded her reply. "Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?" he and Rose made their way over to the window.

"We can't be!" the other med student cried, tears running down her cheeks.

"Obviously we are so don't waste my time," he told her. "Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or...?"

"By the patients' lounge, yeah."

"Fancy going out?"

"Definitely," Rose said excitedly grabbing onto his arm. He turned and smiled at her.

"Okay," Martha breathed.

"We might die?" he told her.

"We might not," she replied. Rose smiled; she already liked this Martha Jones.

"Good!" he said, happy that she was thinking the right way. "C'mon. Not her," the pointed to Martha's friend. "She'd hold us up."

Together the three of them made their way to the patients' lounge. Everywhere they looked, scared people were huddled together, crying. As they came to the door, they looked at each other, took and held their breath. And pushed the doors open.

They stepped out side and after a moment breathed in.

"We've got air!" Martha gasped in wonder. "How does that work?"

"Just be glad it does," he told her.

"A force-field?" Rose guessed.

"Could be."

"I've got a party tonight," Martha told them. "It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really ... really…" she sounded like she was about to cry.

"You okay?" Rose asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Sure?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go back in?"

"No way!" she cried. "I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same - it's beautiful."

"You think?" he asked. Rose knew he was testing her.

"How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are!"

"Standing in the earthlight," Rose smiled leaning forward on the balcony like the other two.

"What do you think happened?" Martha asked them.

"What do _you _think?" he tested her again.

"Extraterrestrial," she said strongly. "It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days…? That spaceship flying into Big Ben - Christmas - those Cybermen things. I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home," she said sadly.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor told her quietly.

"Oh my god, I remember her," Rose said softly. "She was one of the…" she stopped just before saying bodies. "…ones at the desk," she finished weakly. "She looked just like you."

"Yeah," Martha said. "People used to joke and say we were twins."

"We were there. In the battle," he told her.

"I lost my mother…"

"I promise you, Mr Smith, we will find a way out," Martha said. "If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way."

"It's not Smith, that's not my real name," he said looking over the sides of the balcony.

"Who are you, then?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Me too," she said. "If I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Smith?"

"No, just the Doctor," Rose told her.

"How do you mean, just the Doctor?"

"Just… the Doctor," he said.

"What, people call you 'the Doctor'?"

"I just call him Doctor," Rose grinned cheekily.

"Yip," he agreed.

"Well I'm not," she said stubbornly. "As far as I'm concerned, you have to earn that title.

"Well, Id better make a start then," he said. "Let's have a look." He picked up a pebble and chucked it out into the open air, it hit off something invisible in mid air and a bluish ripple spread from where the stone hit. "You were right, Rose. Some sort of force-field, keeping the air in."

"If that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?" Martha asked.

"How many people in this hospital?"

"I don't know, a thousand?"

"One thousand people… Suffocating" Rose said in horror, realising what they were getting at.

"Why would anyone do that?" Martha said aghast.

"Heads up! Ask them yourself," he told her as a bunch of spaceships landed just outside the hospital. The doors of the ships opened and an army of aliens marched out towards them.

"Aliens. That's aliens. Real, proper aliens," Martha gasped.

"Judoon," the Doctor said harshly.

Downstairs they heard people screaming as the Judoon entered the building. Taking her hand the Doctor pulled Rose inside, Martha followed close behind. They snuck downstairs, careful not to be seen, and hid behind some plants.

"Oh, look down there," the Doctor said happily. "You've got a little shop! I like a little shop."

"Never mind that!" Rose rolled her eyes. "You gonna tell us what Judoon are?

"Police," he replied. "Well, police for hire. More like interplanetary thugs."

"And they brought us to the moon?" Martha asked.

"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, so they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop."

"What's that about 'galactic law'? Where'd you get that from? If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?" she laughed.

"No," he said. "But I like that. Good thinking. No, it's more simple. They're making a catalogue, it means they're after something non-human…"

"Oh no," Rose groaned.

"Which is very bad news for me."

"Why?" Martha asked dumbly. They both looked at her. "Oh, you are kidding me!" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous… Stop looking at me like that."

"Come on, then," he whispered. And the three of them went off again. "Is there anywhere I can access patient files?"

"Ever heard of patient confidentiality?" Martha sounded offended.

"Ever heard of a hospital on the moon, with Judoon invading?" Rose countered.

"But what do you need them for?"

"They're looking for someone. I might be able to find them," he told her. Martha nodded.

"Okay, this way," she said reluctantly.

.

"They've reached the third floor," Martha said coming back from checking on the Judoon. The Doctor was sitting at a computer, pointing the sonic at it. Rose was leaning over his shoulder. "What is that thing?"

"Sonic-screwdriver," Rose told her.

"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly!"

"No, really, it is," the Doctor told her, holding it up. "It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. Look."

"What else have you got? A laser spanner?"

"I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman." Rose grinned. Suddenly he hit the computer in his usual manner of trying to get them to co-operate. "Oh, this computer! The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon."

"That's a good one," Rose smiled.

"Cause we were just travelling past, I swear," he continued. "We were just wandering, weren't looking for trouble, honestly, we weren't. But I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital. And that lightning, that's plasma coils, been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside, it turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."

"But what were they looking for?" Martha asked.

"Something that looks human, but isn't," he replied.

"Like you. Apparently."

"Like me," he said. "But not me."

"Haven't they got a photo or some sort of identifier?" Rose asked, wondering how slack these intergalactic police were.

"Might be a shape-changer," he suggested.

"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?" Martha asked.

"If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution."

"All of us?" she cried aghast.

"Oh yes. If I can find this thing first... _Oh!_ Just that - they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick!" the Doctor suddenly cried. Rose rolled her eyes.

"He likes to insult species when he's stressed," Rose said to her.

"No I'm serious! Judoon are thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever," he said the last part sarcastically. He ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up even more.

"Well, what are we looking for?"

"I don't know. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up."

"Just keep working," she told him. "I'll go ask Mr Stoker, he might know." And with that she turned on her heal and waked out.

"Yes sir!" he joked. Rose smiled at him.

"You'll be okay on your own, yeah?" she asked. "I'm going to go keep an eye on our Rhino friends."

"Okay…" he said. "But, Rose. Be careful."

"Don't worry, I always am," she said. The Doctor stopped, turned around and gave her a look.

"That is in no way reassuring," he told her. Giggling Rose walked out the door.


	11. Smith, Jones and Tyler, Non Human

**Non-Human**

.

.

Martha ran down the Corridors to Mr Stoker's office. He was the smartest human in the hospital. He would know.

"Mr Stoker…" she called pushing the door open. But her voice trailed off when she saw his feet sticking out from behind his desk. He wasn't moving…

Nor were the two men in black leather suits and helmets, who stood over his body. They were identical, and she'd bumped into them earlier too. A strange sucking noise filled the room, like someone sucking up the last of a milkshake with a straw.

Just then, Florence Finnegan, a woman they'd checked earlier popped her head up from behind the desk. She had a straw sticking out of her mouth… the straw was covered in blood.

"Kill her!" Florence said.

A look of horror on her face, Martha bolted from the room. From the corner of her eye she saw one of the black leather clad mean follow her. Desperately she ran through the corridors.

Until she ran straight into the Doctor; Rose was nowhere to be seen.

"I've restored the back-up," he told her.

"I found her!" she cried in too much of a panic.

"You did what?" He looked up to see the leather man round the corner. "Run!" he cried.

He took her hand and together they did just that – Run.

**?...DW…?**

Rose peered around the corner watching the Judoon. The big cumbersome rhinoceros like aliens marched through the corridors, grabbing humans and scanning them. She'd watched in horror as a man smashed a vase over one of the Judoon's head… he had been executed for assault.

After they had ascended two more floors she decided it was time to find the Doctor. But just as she turned to leave a large hand grabbed her arm and a blue light was shone at her. For a long time the Judoon said nothing.

"Non-human," it finally growled.

"What? No I'm human!" she cried in confusion.

"Confirm analysis," it said.

"I'm human! I've been travelling with an alien for a few years but I'm human," she said strongly.

"Confirmed," it stated. "Non-human. Species unknown."

"Oh god," she said. Then she pulled herself from its grip and sprinted down the hall.

She could hear them marching after her. And she could hear the sound of laser shots. If only there was something that would get them off her tail!

… Judoon were thick…

Quickly, rounding a corner, she took a hair-band of her wrist and tied her hair up, and then pulled her jumper off and stuffed it in an abandoned locker. She kept to the shadows as they marched by. She was sure one had seen her, but none of them even stopped to get a good look… or even to scan her.

They believed they had their criminal.

.

Once they had passed she bolted down the corridors, eventually she smacked right into the Doctor and Martha who were running from something too.

"Judoon?" she asked.

"And worse," the Doctor told her. "Nice timing. In here," he opened a door and pulled the two girls in. Just as he slammed the door shut Rose saw a strange man, covered from head to toe in black leather, a helmet over his head. "Martha, when I say 'now', press the button."

"But I don't know which one!" she cried back. It was clear to Rose that she was panicking.

Obviously about something different to her. She was panicking because she had just been classed as non-human, how could she be non-human?

"Find out!" he told Martha, closing the door.

Taking out his sonic he pointed it at the machinery which Rose realized with horror that it was the radiation room. But then again, he had never stepped into anything he knew would kill him. She trusted him enough that it would work out… what ever he was doing.

Beside her, Martha was flipping through the operator's manual as fast as she could.

As the man in leather broke down the door he turned the radiation machine towards it and shouted.

"Now!" he yelled at Martha.

"Martha, who was still in a panic… and still didn't know which button it was, took a guess and pushed the big yellow one.

It turned out to be a correct guess. A beam of radiation shot out at the man. There were a few bright flashes… and he fell to the ground.

"What did you do?"

"Increased the radiation by five thousand percent," he told them. "Killed him dead."

"Isn't that likely to kill you?" Martha said in concern.

"Na, it's only roentgen radiation," he shrugged it off. "We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery."

Rose nearly laughed as it brought to her mind the image of a tiny little Doctor playing with radioactive blocks.'

"It's safe for you to come out," he told them. "I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it." He began bouncing on the spot. "If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go, easy does it..." The girls just stared at him as he bounced madly around the room. Suddenly he began kicking his foot out like he had a crab in his shoe. "Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out, ah, ah, ah, ah. Itches, itches, itches, itches! Ah - hold on." Then he pulled the shoe off and tossed it in the bin. "Done," he stated.

Rose was on the brink of incredulous laughter, her eyebrows raised high. Martha however was looking at him as if he were insane.

"You're completely mad," she told him.

"You're right," he said seriously. "I look daft with one shoe!" with that he took his other shoe off and chucked it in the bin too. "Barefoot on the moon!"

"Farewell, faithful converse," Rose sighed playfully. Martha shook her head in disbelief at the two of them. She made her way over to the leather man.

"So what is that thing?" she asked. "And where's it from? The planet Zovirax?"

"It's just a Slab," he replied. "They're called 'Slabs'. Basic slave drones, see? Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish." This last part made Rose snort in amusement.

"It came with that woman, Mrs. Finnegan. It was working for her. Just like a servant."

While Martha was talking the Doctor attempted to remove his sonic-screwdriver from the radiation machine. Finally succeeding her looked at hit in horror.

"My sonic-screwdriver!" he said sadly.

"Oh no!" Rose gasped going over and looking at it. it was all burnt and twisted.

"She was one of the patients, but-" Martha tried to tell them, but they were too distracted by the sonic.

"Burt out my sonic-screwdriver!" he said as if he couldn't quite believe it. Smiling sympathetically Rose put her hand on his shoulder.

"She had a straw like some kind of vampire." Still no one listened.

"I love my sonic-screwdriver!" he cried sadly.

"Doctor!" Martha said in annoyance. Quickly he turned around, tossing the broken sonic over his shoulder like a piece of junk.

"Sorry," he said, then he smiled. "You called me 'Doctor'."

"Anyway…" Martha said now she finally had their attention. "Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood!"

"Funny time to take a snack," he mused. "You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless - no. Yes, that's it, wait a minute. Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it. If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she can register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"

With that they turned and ran out the door.

.

"Doctor?" Rose asked as they walked quickly and sneakily through the halls. "The scans…" she hesitated with telling him straight out and decided on another way about it. "I've been travelling with you for years now. Would the TARDIS… or you have affected me in any way? What will I scan as?"

"Don't worry Rose, you'll be fine," he told her. "The TARDIS wouldn't do anything and the only way it would pick up any traces is if I passed on some DNA on to you. Like if I liked your hand… I don't know why I would lick your hand, but it would work. You're fine though. You'll scan as human."

He looked at her and only just finally seemed to notice she had changed her clothes around a bit.

"What's with the change of looks?" he asked. "Why aren't you wearing your jumper?"

"What are you my mother," she laughed. "I was hot."

"You're shivering," he told her flatly.

"Excitement."

"And your hair?"

"It was getting in my way," she told him sounding slightly curt. It seemed as if he were suspecting something.

"Never stopped you before," he remarked.

"Doctor!" she hissed in alarm, seeing another Slab. Quickly they all darted behind a water cooler and froze.

Thankfully it strode right past them.

.

"That's the thing about Slabs. They always come in pairs," he said, their conversation forgotten.

"What about you?" Martha asked him.

"'What about me' what?"

"Haven't you got back-up?"

"Oi! He has me," Rose said offended.

"I mean alien. You must have another alien with you or something? I mean, didn't you say she was human?"

"Uh… _humans!_" he exclaimed. "We're stuck on the moon, running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal. And you're asking personal questions! Come on." He got up, helped Rose to her feet and they started off again.

"I like that," Martha said sarcastically, following them. "'_Humans'. _I'm still not convinced you're an alien!"

Just then they stepped out of the corridor and came face to face with a Judoon. Before anyone could do anything, it pointed the scanner at the Doctor.

"Non-human," it stated.

"Oh my god, you really are!"

"And again!" he said in exasperation. Taking Rose's hand, and grabbing Martha by the arm he pulled them away.

As they ran the Judoon shot after them. Thankfully – yet again – they missed. They bolted through a door and he locked it behind them, muttering something about the sonic-screwdriver.

.

Walking through the corridor they saw tired looking people slump to the ground. They were running out of air.

"They've done this floor," the Doctor said. "Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky."

Suddenly Martha, who was starting to breathe heavily - saw her friend and stopped.

"How much oxygen is there?" she asked crouching down by her.

"Not enough for all these people, her friend replied. "We're going to run out."

"How are you feeling?" he asked Martha. "You alright?" He knew Rose was okay. Some of the messes they got into had left them with not much air before. And he knew she had a slightly stronger endurance than a normal human now.

"I'm running on adrenaline," she told him.

"Welcome to my world," Rose grinned. He did notice that her breathing was starting to get heavier too.

"What about the Judoon?" she asked.

"Ah, great big lung reserves, it won't slow them down. Where's Mr Stoker's office?"

"It's this way." She got up again and led them around the corner to the office. She hesitated a moment before stepping in. The Doctor moved quickly towards the body. Upon seeing it Rose covered her mouth in horror. No matter how many times she would see a dead body, she would never _ever_ get used to it – no matter what kind of creature it was.

"She's gone!" Martha cried. "She was here."

The Doctor began to examine Mr Stoker's body.

"Drained him dry. Every last drop. I was right. She's a Plasmavore."

"What was she doing on Earth?" Rose asked him. In her experience, aliens being on earth weren't often a good thing.

"Hiding. On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on." He and Rose made their way to the door.

"Wait a minute," Martha said, stopping them.

Silently she knelt down next to Mr Stoker's body. Gently she passed her hand over his eyes, closing them so he seemed just a little more at peace.


	12. Smith, Jones and Tyler, Deadly Magnetism

**Deadly Magnetism**

.

.

"Think, think, think," the Doctor said to himself. "If I was a Plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?" At that moment he looked up and noticed the sign to the MRI room. "Oh!" he groaned. "She's as cleaver as me… Almost."

Suddenly the doors at the end of the hall burst open and the Judoon piled through.

"Find the non-humans. Execute."

"Stay here," he told them pulling them to the side so they'd have a little more time before the Judoon reached them. "I need time. You're going to have to hold them up."

"How do I do that?" Rose asked him.

"Um…" he thought a second. "Oh, Rose! You're brilliant!" he cried. "Traces!" Then he leaned forward, taking her face in his hands, and kissed her.

It was soft and quick, but very passionate. And sadly it was over before Rose could even react. She was left standing there, a look of shock still on her face. He looked at the ground.

"That um…" he cleared his throat. "Like I said before. You'll scan non-human and they'll have to go to level two scanning."

"Um… Doctor," she said quietly. "I've – I've already been scanned."

"What? Where's your mark?"

"I didn't get one," she said, her voice still far too quiet. "I scanned non-human."

"I'm sorry _what?_"

"Doctor, time!"

"Oh right, yes." He looked around and his eyes fell on Martha. He looked back at Rose, his expression somewhat apologetic. "Martha, forgive me for this. It's to save a thousand lives, it means nothing. Honestly, absolutely nothing," he said profusely.

Then he kissed her quickly – and much less passionately – and ran off.

"Okay… so I get a warning, you don't, then," Martha muttered to Rose.

Almost too distracted by Martha's comment, Rose nearly forgot to run. But soon she was right outside the MRI room with the Doctor. Lights inside the room were flashing dangerously.

"Rose," he said turning to her. "You have to hide. Make sure the Judoon and the Plasmavore don't see you. And no matter what you hear, don't move, don't make a sound!"

"You're doing something dangerous," she said sounding worried.

"Incredibly. But don't worry, I'll be fine." He was tempted to lean forward and kiss her again, but this time he didn't have an excuse. He could still feel the ghost of the last kiss lingering on his lips.

Rose shuffled back so she was hidden amongst some cupboards and he got up and entered the room. He saw an older woman behind the control panel tweaking buttons. The MRI was alive with electricity. He noticed that the woman already had a mark on her hand.

He shook himself into acting mode and stepped out where she would see him.

"Have you seen!" he cried. "There are these things, these great big space rhino things! I mean rhinos from space! And we're on the moon! Great big space rhinos with guns on the moon! And I only came in for my bunions - look," he held up one of his bare feet to her. "All fixed now, perfectly good treatment, the nurses were lovely. I said to my wife: 'I'd recommend this place to anyone'. But then we end up on the moon. And did I mention the rhinos?"

Florence the Plasmavore walked up to him, a very annoyed look on her face.

"Hold him!" she commanded. A Slab came from nowhere and held his arms behind his back. Florence walked back over to the MRI.

"That thing, that big machine thing – is it supposed to be making that noise?" he asked daftly.

"You wouldn't understand," Florence waved him off.

"Isn't that a magnetic resonance imaging thing? Like a ginormous sort of a magnet? I did magnets at GCSE. Well, I failed, but all the same."

"A magnet with its setting now increased to 50,000 Tesla."

"Oooh. That's a bit strong isn't it?" he said.

"I can send out a magnetic pulse that will fry the brain-stems of every living thing within 250,000 miles. Except me, safe in this room."

"But... hold on, hold on, I did geography for GCSE, I did pass that one, doesn't that distance include Earth?"

"Only the side facing the moon," she said happily. "The other half will survive. Call it my little gift."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little out of my depth. I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman, hence the bunions - why would you do that?"

"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships will be mine, to make my escape," she told him. He always found it funny that when you acted really daft, people tended to tell you their whole plan.

"Now, that's weird. You're talking like you're some sort of an alien!"

"Quite so," she said.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, yes."

"You're joshing me!"

"I am not."

"I'm talking to an alien, in a hospital?" he said as if it were the most extraordinary thing he'd ever done. "What, has the place got an ET department?"

"It's the perfect hiding place," she exclaimed. "Blood banks downstairs for a midnight feast. And all this equipment ready to arm myself with should the police come looking."

"So, those rhinos, they're looking for you?"

"Yes. But I'm hidden," she whispered holding up her marked hand.

"Oh. Right," he said. "Maybe that's why they're increasing their scans."

"They're doing what?" she said harshly.

"Big chief rhino boy, he said: 'no sign of a non-human, we must increase our scans up to setting two'."

"Then I must assimilate again."

"What does that mean?"

"I must appear to be human," she told him walking around the room, slightly more panicked.

"Well, you're welcome to come home and meet the wife. She'd be honoured. We can have cake!"

"Why should I have cake? I've got my little straw," she said pulling it from her bag.

"That's nice. Milkshake? I like banana." He was starting to get a little nervous. He knew what was coming next, and he knew he wasn't going to like it one bit.

"You're quite the funny man," she told him. "And yet, I think, laughing on purpose at the darkness. I think it's time you found some peace. Steady him!"

Roughly the Slab held his head tight and bent him over so his neck was exposed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding scared as Florence patted his neck.

"I'm afraid this is going to hurt," she said. "But if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember."

.

Rose waited moments in dread as there was only silence in the room. She didn't know what was going on in there, but she had a pretty good idea. And she hated it. It took all she had not to run out there and help him. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it for a reason.

Soon there was a crash and the sound of Judoon entering. There was a thump that sounded like someone falling.

"Now see what you've done. This poor man just died of fright," Florence said.

"Scan him!" said a Judoon. "Confirmation: deceased."

"What? No!" she cried, running from her hiding place. Being careful not to let her face be seen, she ran over and knelt beside the Doctor's body.

"No, he can't be," Martha said from somewhere behind the Judoon. "Let me through, let me see him."

"Stop," the Judoon said, holding her back. "Case closed."

"But it was her!" Rose cried.

"It was her. She killed him, she murdered him," Martha backed her up.

"Judoon have no authority over human crime."

"But she's not human!"

"Oh, but I am. I've been catalogued."

"No! She's a Plasmavore," Rose cried. "She assimil- wait a minute. You drank his blood… The Doctor's blood. Martha!"

Clicking onto what she meant, Martha took the scanner from one of the Judoon and pointed it at Florence.

"Oh, I don't mind. Scan all you like," she almost taunted.

"Non-human," the Judoon stated.

"What?"

"Confirm analysis." Every single Judoon in the room pointed their scanner at Florence.

"Oh, but it's a mistake, surely. I'm human. I'm as human as they come."

"Confirmed: Plasmavore. I charge you with the crime of murdering the child princess of Padrivole Regency Nine."

"She deserved it!" she completely changed her tune. "Those pink cheeks and those blond curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a Plasmavore."

Rose wasn't listening, she was brushing back stray strands of hair that were hanging limply across the Doctors forehead. She refused to believe he was dead. He was going to pop back up any second now. Or regenerate… even regenerating was better than him being dead!

"Do you confess?" the Judoon asked Florence.

"Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab - stop them!" The Slab moved forward as she went to the MRI machine, but the Judoon shot it and it disintegrated.

"Verdict: guilty. Sentence: execution."

Suddenly an alarm went off as Florence pushed some plugs together.

"Enjoy your victory, Judoon, because you're going to burn with me. Burn in hell!" she cried manically. But as she screamed at them the Judoon shot, and she disintegrated. Martha joined Rose beside the Doctor.

"Case closed."

"What did she mean, 'burn with me'? The scanner shouldn't be doing that. She's done something," Martha said.

"She's increased the magnet or something," Rose said. "It's going to kill everyone here and half of Earth!"

"Do something," Martha begged the Judoon. "Please, stop it!"

"Our jurisdiction has ended," the chief Judoon told her. "Judoon will evacuate."

"What? You can't just leave it!"

"All units withdraw." And with that all the Judoon left.

"You can't go!" Martha shouted at them, running out the door. "That thing's going to explode and it's your fault!" But the Judoon were already gone. She rushed back inside to the Doctor.

"I have to stop it!" Rose gasped, her breathing much too heavy. She ran to the computer and started fiddling around looking for a way to stop it. But she was getting weaker by the second.

Martha began CPR on the Doctor.

"Two hearts!" Rose reminded her when she noticed she was only doing once side. Martha began doing both sides, then with the last of her air, she breathed into his lungs. Then she slumped to the floor unconscious.

Beside her the Doctor gasped. And sat up coughing. Weakly he got up and looked over at Rose who was slowly sliding to the floor.

"The scanner…" she gasped. Staggering he made his way over to her. He looked at the computer and reached into his pocket, groaning when he remembered he didn't have it anymore. So he moved over to where all the cords were and after a moment of thought, unplugged the red coils. The MRI powered down.

He shuffled over, back towards Rose and took her hand. They sat limply side by side, Rose's head fell on his shoulder. She was only semiconscious. A moment later – though there was next to no air – he gained back a little of his strength.

"Stay there, I'll be back," he whispered to Rose and kissed her head.

Placing her gently on the ground he went over to Martha, picked her up and carried her into the next room. He lay her down on the bed before he ran back and scooped Rose up in his arms. It was harder than it should have been with the air now completely gone. If they didn't get back now people would start dying in a few seconds.

With Rose's arms still draped loosely around his shoulder, her head against his chest. He held her close and stood by the window.

"Come on, come on, come on," he muttered. "Come on, Judoon, reverse it." Just as the Judoon ships blasted off, the H2O scoop began and it started to rain. "It's raining, Rose," he grinned. "It's raining on the moon."

There was a bright flash, and the moon was gone.

**?...DW…?**

Rose sat up with a gasp, an oxygen mask covered her mouth and feeling slightly dizzy she took it off.

"Hello there," the Doctor grinned, seeing she was awake.

"We made it back then?" she said weakly. "What happened?"

"Aw, just unplugged the MRI and we were sent back to earth just seconds before people suffocated. You know, the usual." Rose smiled and feeling light headed again, put the mask back up to her mouth for a moment.

"What about Martha?" she said.

"She's safe. I made sure."

"She saved your life, and she handled all that _so_ well… You know what? I think we should give her a little trip to say thank you." The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What? She's already been to the moon; I don't think she'll find it difficult to believe much else is impossible."

"Well," he mused. "She _did_ save my life. And you two looked to be getting along. Aww, why not."

.

Later that night the TARDIS was parked just around the corner from where Martha's family's party was.

"Now… just… stay here," he told Rose. "Please, for the love of Gallifrey, _don't_ wonder off!"

"Would it make you feel better if I handcuffed myself to the TARDIS?" she laughed.

"Well, it is a police box. I'm sure there's some handcuffs somewhere," he grinned cheekily.

"I won't go anywhere. Now, you go get Martha."

Still smiling he walked down to the corner to see a rather funny sight. One by one members of Martha's family piled out the door yelling at each other and particularly at blonde girl who seemed to be dating Martha's father. He watched as the father ran after the blonde, and her brother after the father. The mother went the other way, followed by Martha's sister. Leaving Martha stuck in the middle, standing on the side of the path.

But upon seeing him she smiled. He smiled back and gestured her to follow. He ran back to the TARDIS where he leaned against the door. Rose turned and leaned so she half against the door and half against him. He tried not to wish that she were leaning closer to him, and he tried not to think too much about that kiss.

Together they watched as Martha ran around the corner.

"I went to the moon today," she said.

"It's a bit more peaceful than down here," he replied.

"You never even told me who you are."

"The Doctor."

"Rose Tyler."

"But what sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that," she said walking closer.

"I'm just a normal… ish human. Born and raised in London. Been travelling around with him for over two years."

"And you Doctor?"

"I'm a Time Lord," he told her.

"Right! Not pompous at all, then." At this Rose burst out laughing. She had never really thought much about the name of his people. But it was so true.

"We just thought," he said, "since you saved my life and I've got a brand new sonic-screwdriver which needs road testing, you might fancy a trip."

"What, into space?"

"Yup," Rose grinned.

"I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I've got my family going mad…"

"If it helps," he said. "I can travel in time as well."

"Get out of here," she cried.

"He can," Rose said.

"Come on now, that's going too far."

"I'll prove it," he said walking back inside the TARDIS.

A few seconds later the TARDIS dematerialised before them. In disbelief Martha walked forward to where it had been, her hand outstretched in the air.

"Incredible, right?" Rose laughed. "You know, when I first started travelling with him, we went to visit my mum. I was only meant to have been gone twelve hours… turned out to be twelve months. Mum had gone mad with worry." The noise of the TARDIS began to sound and Rose pulled her back a little.

The Doctor stepped out of the fully materialised TARDIS, his tie in his hands.

"Told you!" he said.

"I know, but... that was this morning! But - Did you... Oh, my God! You can travel in time!" grinning he put his tie back on. "But hold on, if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go in to work?"

"Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden," he told her. "Except for cheap tricks."

"And we would have been completely lost with you up there," Rose added.

"And that's your spaceship?"

"It's called the TARDIS," he said.

"That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space," Rose clarified.

"Your spaceship's made of wood," Martha seemed to be laugh at them. "There's not much room. We'd be a bit squished."

"Take a look," he pushed the door open for her.

Martha walked in and he and Rose followed. They watched as all the different emotions flickered across her face. Rose knew how much he loved this part.

"Oh no, no, no, no…" she ran back out side and began looking around the sides. "But it's just a box. But it's huge. How does it do that? It's wood. It's like a box with that room just jammed in. It's bigger on the inside!"

"Is it?" he exclaimed sarcastically, having just mouthed the phrase everyone always said, at the same time as her. "I hadn't noticed." He closed the door and took off his coat, chucking it over one of the beams. "All right then, let's get going!"

"But is there a crew? Like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?"

"Just us," he smiled up at Rose.

"Sometimes we have others with us," she said. "We used to have a friend called Jack. God he hit on anything that moved! But yeah, just us."

"Okay, then. Close down the gravitic anomalizer. Fire up the helmic regulator. And finally - the hand brake," he said making his way around the console pulling leavers. "Ready?"

"No," Martha replied.

"Off we go!" he pulled off the brake and the TARDIS jolted and shuddered. He fell onto the pilot chair, Rose falling on top of him.

"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy," she cried.

"She's always like this!" Rose laughed.

"Welcome aboard, Miss Jones," the Doctor grinned holding out his hand.

"It's my pleasure, Mr Smith," she smiled shaking it.

The three of them smiled at each other. Wondering what kind of adventure they were stumbling into now.

.

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_**Yeah… the Doctor tends to be a tad forgetful lately. It's one of those things that you JUST know is really important but you just can't remember what. Something that's staring you right in the face – as our favourite man would say.**_

_**So – I'd say some predictable moments and some that you wouldn't exactly expect.**_

_**And yeah… I am sticking to the script as close as possible at the moment. Because it's going to get really messed up soon enough.**_

_**Review please! I love you all!**_


	13. The Shakespeare Code, Shakespeare

_**Shakespeare! This was actually the very first Doctor Who episode I ever saw. So you can see why it was instant love!**_

_**So – Disclaimer etc. – Enjoy!**_

_**Let the revels begin!**_

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***The Shakespeare Code***

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**Shakespeare**

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The Doctor, Rose and Martha clung to the console as they rattled about.

"But how do you travel in time? What makes it go?" Martha asked him.

"Oh, let's take the fun and mystery out of everything. Martha, you don't wanna know. It just does. Hold on tight!"

With another jerk they were thrown in all directions around the console room. But they had landed.

"Blimey! Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?" said Martha.

"Yes, and I failed."

"I knew it!" Rose cried as the Doctor grabbed his coat from off the beam.

"Now, make the most of it," he told Martha. "I promised you one trip and one trip only. Outside this door..." he turned and looked at her rather dramatically. "Brave new world."

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Take a look," Rose told her. She still remembered the first time she stepped out of the TARDIS into a viewing platform, spread before her had been the Earth and a sun that was less than an hour away from expanding. And she remembered the first time she had stepped into the past. Wearing a beautiful dress from the 1700's, the soft Christmas snow beneath her feet.

"After you…" the Doctor gestured, opening the door.

With only a smile and a small hesitation she walked out the door into Elizabethan England. Rose and the Doctor followed her out.

"Oh, you are kidding me," she cried. "You are _so_ kidding me. Oh, my God! We did it. We travelled in time. Where are we? No, sorry. I gotta get used to this whole new language. When are we?"

"Mind out!" the Doctor suddenly cried pulling her back. Someone dumped a bucket out the window. "Somewhere before the invention of the toilet. Sorry about that."

"I've seen worse. I've worked the late night shift at A&E." Rose linked her arm through the Doctors and they stated to walk away. "But are we safe?" she asked them suddenly. "I mean, can we move around and stuff?"

"Of course we can. Why do you ask?"

"It's like in the films. You step on a butterfly; you change the future of the human race."

"Well, tell you what then," he said. "Don't step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?" he said sounding offended enough for the butterflies. Rose grinned at his typical reaction. They turned again and continued walking Martha following behind them.

"What if… I don't know. What if I killed my grandfather?" she continued.

"Are you planning to?" Rose asked her.

"No."

"Well then…"

"And this is London?"

"I think so," the Doctor told her. "Round about, ooh – um… 1599."

"Oh, but hold on. Am I all right? I'm not gonna get carted off as a slave, am I?" Martha said worriedly.

"Why would they do that?"

"I'm not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed," she gestured to her skin.

"I'm not even human," he said. "Just walk about like you won the place. Works for me. Besides, you'd be surprised." They watched as a couple of dark woman walked out of a building chatting away like everyone else. "Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there." The pointed to a man shovelling manure. "You've got recycling… Water cooler moment." They looked at two men talking as they stood beside a water barrel.

"…And the world will be consumed by flame!" a man preached loudly.

"Global warming," he grinned. "Oh yes, and speaking of globes…. Entertainment! Popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, were just down the river by Southwark right next to…" he took Rose's hand again and they ran further down the street. As they rounded the corner a very familiar building came into view. "Oh yes!" he cried. "The Globe Theatre! Brand new. Just opened. Though, strictly speaking, it's not a globe; it's a tetradecagon – 14 sides."

"I thought the Globe was over that way further," Rose pointed. "We went there on a school trip. I loved drama class, and Shakespeare was my favourite section!"

"Na, that's the cock fighting ring. One belief is that the Globe was modelled on it so all sides could see the stage. When archaeologists found the cock fighting ring they thought it was the Globe, built a replica over top. Didn't realise until later it was the wrong place. Anyway, this is the real deal – containing the man himself." He began swaying cutely side to side in excitement.

"Oh my god! You don't mean…? _Shakespeare_ is in there?" Rose cried.

"Oh yes," he grinned.

"No way!" Martha exclaimed.

"Miss Tyler, Miss Jones, would you accompany me to the theatre?" he said holding an arm out to each of them.

"Why Doctor, I would love to," Rose looped her arm through his.

"Yes, Mr Smith, I will," Martha said looping her arm through his other one.

"When you get home," He said to Martha as they made their way to the Globe, "you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare."

"Then I could get sectioned!" she said brightly. Rose laughed imagining that. She could just imagine if she had gone home after some of her adventures and telling people who wouldn't have believed her all the things that had happened. What would people have thought if she'd told them she'd been possessed by the last human?

**?...DW…?**

"That's amazing! Just amazing," Martha cried as they applauded the end of the play. Up on stage the actors bowed. "It's worth putting up with the smell. And those are men dressed as women, yeah?"

"London never changes," the Doctor joked.

"It's too bad woman weren't allowed to act back here," Rose sighed.

"No Rose," the Doctor grinned. "You cannot act in one of the plays."

"Where's Shakespeare?" Martha asked.

"Oh hell, yes," Rose cried. "I want to see Shakespeare."

"Author! Author!" Martha cried. A few people looked at her oddly and she faltered a second. "Do – do people say that? Do they shout 'author'?"

"Author!" a man not far from them suddenly shouted out. Another picked up the call and another. Soon they were all shouting it out.

"Well," the Doctor said looking around in amusement. "They do now."

.

Then out jumped an energetic man… _the_ man. It was William Shakespeare. He bowed low and blew kisses to the audience, behaving very much like one of the actors. The audience went crazy as he came on stage, the cheers were almost deafening.

"He's much hotter than his portraits," Rose commented. The Doctor looked at her sharply, an odd look on his face. "What?" she asked. "He's much better looking than the ones where he's baled and wearing that weird ruffle."

"Genius," was all the Doctor said. "He's a genius – _the_ genius. The most human 'Human' that's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always, he chooses the best words. New beautiful, brilliant words!"

He grabbed Rose's hand in his and they grinned at each other excitedly. They reminded Martha of a couple of kid's who'd just been told they had won a free truck of lollies every month for a year.

Up on stage Shakespeare motioned for quiet, but there was still some noise from them.

"Shut your big fat mouths!" he yelled at them jokingly. The crowed began to cheer again and laugh with him. Rose and the Doctor's faces fell.

"Ugh… Oh well," he sighed.

"You should never meet your heroes," Martha told them, laughing slightly.

"You have excellent taste! I'll give you that," Shakespeare called to them all. "Oh, that's a wig!" he cried pointing to a man up the front. "Now, I know what you're all saying. 'Loves Labour's Lost' - that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops! Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius." He took another flamboyant bow. One things for sure, he certainly wasn't modest. Suddenly her jerked back up, as if he were a puppet on a string. "When?" he said. "Tomorrow night." There was cheering all around, but the actors looked at each other in confusion. "The premiere of my brand new play," he continued. "A sequel, no less, and I call it 'Love Labour's Won'!"

Everyone applauded more, including Martha. The Doctor just stood there looking very concerned. Rose looked up at him wearily, she knew, by that look and her knowledge of Shakespeare, that something was wrong.

.

"I'm not an expert," Martha said as the three of them walked out of the theatre. "But I've never heard of 'Love Labour's Won'."

"Neither have I," Rose said. "It was never written."

"Exactly" he cried. "The lost play. It doesn't exist, only in rumours. It's mentioned in lists of his plays but never turns up. No one knows why."

"Oooh! Maybe we can find out!" Rose said excitedly.

"Do you have a mini-disk?" Martha asked. "We could tape it. We can flog it. Sell it when we get home and make a mint!" Both Rose and the Doctor looked at her sternly.

"No," he said.

"That would be bad?" She said slowly.

"Very," Rose told her. "Once we took this guy to the future. He wanted to reinvent the future technology now… well in 2012. Now he's got a door in his head that opens up to his brain when ever anyone clicks! …You know I kinda wanna go back there and keep clicking, just to annoy him!" The Doctor laughed at this. It had been pretty fun opening it constantly the first time. A rather perplexed looking Martha reverted them back to the conversation.

"So, how come it disappeared in the first place?"

"Scratch maybe, we _have_ to find out!" Rose grinned.

"Well," the Doctor said hesitantly. "I was just going to give you a quick little trip in the TARDIS, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer."

Both girls squealed in excitement and he grinned.

**?...DW…?**

"We're actually going to meet him _in person!_" Rose squealed in delight.

"Yes we are," the Doctor told her happily. "Hello!" he knocked on the door and they walked in. "Excuse me; I'm not interrupting, am I? Mr Shakespeare, isn't it?"

"Oh no, no, no, no," Shakespeare waved him off. "Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove…" Then his eyes fell on the two girls behind the Doctor. "Hey, nonny, nonny!" he said flirtingly. "Sit right down here next to me ladies. You two, get to sewing on them costumes. Off you go," he said to the two men he had been talking with.

"Come on lads," said the lady of the house. "I think our William's found himself a couple of new muses." The men left and the three of them sat down at the table with Shakespeare. The Doctor didn't like that Shakespeare was flirting with Rose and moved a little closer to her.

"Sweet ladies," he said. "Such unusual clothes. So… fitted."

"Um, verily, forsooth, egads," Martha tried.

"No, no, don't do that, don't," the doctor told her quietly. He held up the psychic paper to Shakespeare. "I'm Sir Doctor of TARDIS and these are my companions, Dame Rose Tyler of the Powell Estate, and Miss Martha Jones."

"Why don't I get a title?" Martha whispered sadly to Rose.

"Have you been knighted?"

"No…"

"Then there you go," Rose smiled.

"Interesting , that bit of paper," Shakespeare said. "It's blank."

A look of absolute delight crossed the Doctors face. "Oh, that's… very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius!" Martha peered at the paper.

"No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Dame Rose Tyler and Martha Jones. It says so."

"And I say it's blank," Shakespeare insisted.

"Psychic paper," the Doctor explained to her. "Some people can be trained against its effects. But true geniuses see nothing right off."

"How come you can see it then?" Rose said before wincing internally. His ego was big enough without that.

"Because I want to."

"Psychic?" Shakespeare interrupted them. "Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly? More to the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?"

"What did you say?" Martha said in surprise.

"Whops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A Swarth? A Queen of Afric?" Rose began to giggle.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Martha almost laughed.

"It's political correctness gone mad," the Doctor said rubbing his eye. "Um, Martha and Rose are from a far off land. Freedonia."

"Excuse me! Hold hard a moment," a man bellowed, barging into the room. "This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mr Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round," Shakespeare said tiredly.

"I do not work to _your_ schedule, you work to _mine_. The script, now!"

"I can't."

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled!"

"It's all go around here, isn't it?" Martha muttered.

"I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, 'Love's Labour's Won' will never be played!" And with that he stormed from the room.

.

"Well, that sounded ominous," Rose said. "No wonder your plays are so good, you've got a melodrama going on right in front of you! And seriously, Master of the Revels? What is he, your inspiration for Oberon?"

"Insane wench," the Doctor laughed nudging her playfully.

"Oi!"

"That which we call Rose by any other name…" he teased.

"Actually," Shakespeare said. "It's 'That which we call _a_ rose…'"

"I know," the Doctor told him. "I was just teasing her."


	14. The Shakespeare Code, Deaths and Sonnets

**Deaths and Sonnets**

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"Well, then," Martha said. "Mystery solved. That's 'Loves Labour's Won' over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know… more mysterious."

Suddenly from out side there came a loud grunt and a woman's scream. Like that, the Doctor, Rose, Martha and Shakespeare were out the door and running down the steps to the commotion. Outside, the Mater of the Revels – who Shakespeare had named as Lynley – was staggering about, coughing up copious amounts of water from nowhere.

"It's that Lynley bloke," Martha said.

"Oh my god, what's wrong with him," Rose exclaimed.

"Leave it to me, I'm a doctor," the Doctor said going over and supporting Lynley.

"So am I," Martha said going over too. "Near enough…"

Suddenly with one last watery gasp Lynley groaned and collapsed to the ground. The Doctor went off, looking for something near by, Rose ran over to see if she could help. Martha bent over the body to see if there was a heartbeat.

"Got to get the heart going," she muttered. "Mr Lynley, c'mon, can you hear me? You're going to be alright." The Doctor and Rose came back over and she prepared to start mouth to mouth. But before she could, more water poured from his mouth.

"What the hell is that?" Rose asked fearfully.

"I've never seen a death like it. His lungs are full of water – he drowned and then… I dunno, like a blow to the heart. An invisible blow." He stood and turned to the Lady of the House. "Good mistress," he said to her. "This poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural, if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll do it, Ma'am," the maid said.

.

"Why did you tell them that?" Martha asked the Doctor.

"This lot sill have got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft."

"What was it then?" Rose asked. The Doctor hesitated only a moment.

"Witchcraft."

**?...DW…?**

"I've got you a room, Sir Doctor," Dolly Bailey, the Lady of the House told him. "You and your companions are just across the landing. I'm afraid it may be a tad small, but it's all we had left." The Doctor nodded his thank you, and she left the room.

"Poor Lynley," Shakespeare said. "So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia, where a woman can be a doctor?"

"Where a woman can do what she likes," Martha told him.

"Including acting," Rose put in. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"

"I do a lot of reading," he replied.

"A trite reply, yeah? That's what I do." He turned back to Martha. "And you, you look at him like you're surprised her exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me. And yet you Dame Tyler," he turned to her. "You look at him as if you trust him with more than just your life. You know him better than anyone, and yet you still don't know him entirely."

"I think we should say goodnight," Martha said quietly, then she left.

"I must to work," Shakespeare said turning to his desk. "I have a play to complete. But I'll get my answers tomorrow Doctor. And I'll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours."

"All the world's a stage," the Doctor quoted as they went to the door.

"Hmm, I might use that," Shakespeare said. "Goodnight, Doctor."

"Nighty-night, Shakespeare." He and Rose made to leave.

"Oh, Rose?" Shakespeare stopped her. "May I whisper something in your ear a moment?"

Rose looked at the Doctor hesitantly, the Doctor looked at Shakespeare somewhat in concern.

"Worry not Sir Doctor," he laughed. "I only wish to talk to your friend."

"Okay I guess, I'll be waiting just outside the door."

"I'd expect no less." With a small hesitation and one small look at Rose, the Doctor walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving the two of them alone. "Now Rose, come here. Let me tell you something," Shakespeare said. Rose sat down on the chair next to him and he leaved over the table towards her a little. "This is a sonnet I composed a few years back:  
>Let me not to the marriage of true minds<br>Admit impediments. Love is not love  
>Which alters when it alteration finds,<br>Or bends with the remover to remove.  
>O no, it is and ever-fixèd mark<br>That looks on tempests and is never shaken;  
>It is the star to every wand'ring bark,<br>Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.  
>Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks<br>Within his bending sickle's compass come:  
>Love alters not with brief hours and weeks,<br>But bears it out even to the edge of doom.  
>If this be error and upon me proved,<br>I never writ, nor no man ever loved.  
>- That is what I see… Only stronger."<p>

"Only stronger? What does that mean? Who are you talking about?" she asked. Shakespeare only laughed.

"You should try not pretending to be blind. I know you can see it, you just don't want to."

With a nervous smile, Rose stood and made her way to the door again.

"Thank you," she said softly. "Goodnight, dear wordsmith."

"Dream sweetly, Rose."

.

"It's not exactly five-star, is it?" Martha said to the two of them as they walked in.

"Oh, it'll do. We've seen worse," the Doctor said. Rose shuddered trying not to remember the room they had stayed in on Drastnor.

"I haven't even got a toothbrush," Martha said.

"Ooh, um…" He patted his pockets and pulled one out. "Contains Venusian spearmint," he said.

"So who's going where?" Martha asked taking it from him. "There's only one bed."

"You can have it," Rose told her. "As he said, we've seen worse."

"Here, at least take this." She pulled the blankets off the bed and handed them to her. It's better than the ground at least." Rose smiled at her and began to spread them out. The Doctor had already seated himself on the ground. Rose looked over at him and frowned.

"Don't be ridiculous," she told him as she lay down. "Come over here, we can share. Remember what happened last time you slept on solid ground?"

"I'm fine Rose," he smiled. He watched as she tried to get comfortable, but he knew that she liked a pillow. "Oh alright," he said moving over onto the blanket with her. "Tell you what, come here." He opened his arms and she moved into them. Glad to have something to rest her head on.

Martha just smiled knowingly at the two of them. Were they really that blind, or just denying it?

"So, magic and stuff," she said sitting at the end of the bed. "That's a surprise. It's a little bit 'Harry Potter'."

"Oh! Wait till you read book seven," the Doctor told her. "I cried. This one," he gestured to Rose, "locked herself in the library for two days with a box of tissues."

"It only took two days to read?"

"I couldn't put it down," Rose smiled.

"But… is it real though? I mean – witches, black magic and all that, it's real?"

"'Course it isn't!" he scoffed.

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I've only just started believing in time travel. Give me a break." Rose smiled at her. She remembered the feeling. Though, if anything she was willing to accept things a little easier than Martha was.

"Looks like witchcraft, but it isn't," the Doctor said to himself more than anyone else. "There's such a thing as psychic energy but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that."

"Oh please," Rose laughed. "You couldn't even see the London Eye!"

"No, Rose," he said looking at her. Their faces were inches apart. "There's something I'm missing. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it."

"Maybe it's some sort of alien that looks like a witch and… I don't know, can do magic?" she suggested. The Doctor smiled at her.

"It could be. Rose Tyler, you always say the exact right thing." She returned his smile. "You know, I never knew you liked acting. You should show me sometime, I bet you're brilliant."

"Just don't ask me to do a Scottish accent," she laughed. But soon the smile faded from her face as she thought.

Yes, she was very good at acting. So good that the Doctor didn't realise she was acting right now. That she'd been acting for a while now. Acting that to her, he was only a friend. Acting that there was nothing wrong with her. She'd done well distracting him away from the Bad Wolf and the 'non-human' thing. But inside it scared her.

"Doctor…" she said. "One of Shakespeare's sonnets. Could you translate it into English for me?"

"How does it go?"

"Uh… Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments…"

"Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds?" he continued for her. "Let's see… in English – Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love-"

Rose hit him playfully when he just started quoting it normally and he grinned cheekily at her.

"_Modern_ English!" she told him.

"I thought you knew all about his works," the Doctor teased.

"His plays, yeah. I never really much got into the sonnets."

"Right, well then. It more or less means: I hope I never find a reason why minds that truly love each other shouldn't be together.  
>It's not really love if it changes when you see the beloved change and it doesn't disappear if the beloved leaves.<br>Love is a constant, unchanging light that shines on storms without wavering.  
>It's the star that guides every wandering boat. And like a star, its value is beyond measure, even though its height can be taken.<br>Love isn't manipulated by time, even though time has the power to destroy looks and youth.  
>Love can't be changed as time goes on. It's something that lasts for all of time, to the very end.<br>If this is wrong, and you can prove it. Then I never wrote, and no man has ever loved.  
>… Yeah, I like that one. It's so true. Take it from someone who has seen love and billions of years of time."<p>

"I like it," Martha said snuggling down. "It's beautiful and sounds really familiar. Anyway, night you two." She rolled over and blew out the candle.

"Night Martha," they replied snuggling down themselves.

.

Though the Doctor fell asleep long after Rose, he didn't know that his last waking thought was the exact same as hers. The both of them had been trying not to think about the situation they were in.

Because Rose and the Doctor fell asleep in each others arms.

.

.

.

_**Sonnet 116! So my favourite. And I thought it seemed VERY appropriate for this.**_


	15. The Shakespeare Code, Power of a Name

**Power of a Name**

.

.

Suddenly they were woken by a piercing scream. Scrambling up the tree of them ran to where it had come from.

Shakespeare's room.

Shakespeare was unconscious at his desk, quill still in hand. Something had appeared to have jumped out the window behind him. And Dolly Bailey lay dead on the ground.

Martha and the Doctor kneeled down to examine the body. Rose rushed to the window in time to see a witch on a broom cackle madly as she flew away into the night sky.

"What? What was that?" Shakespeare said sleepily waking up. He sounded hung-over… or drugged.

"Hear heart gave out. She died of fright," the Doctor said in surprise.

"Doctor!" Rose cried in alarm at the sight of the witch.

"What did you see?" he asked as he and Martha joined her at the window.

"A witch."

**?...DW…?**

"Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place. We all ran like ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit."

"'Rage, rage, against the dying of the light…" the Doctor said leaning heavily on his hand.

"I might use that."

"You can't," he replied. "It's someone else's."

"But the thing is," Martha said. "Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright. And they were both connected to you."

"Are you accusing me?" Shakespeare said angrily.

"No, but Rose saw a witch. And you've written about witches."

"I have? When was that?"

"No, no," Rose murmured. "Not yet."

"Peter Streete spoke of witches," Shakespeare commented.

"Who's Peter Streete?"

"Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe."

"The architect," the Doctor said, realisation dawning on him. "Hold on. The architect! The architect!" he banged his fist on the table in excitement making Martha jump. Rose was a little more used to his sudden outbursts. "The Globe! Come on!"

He rushed out the door, Rose close behind. Martha and Shakespeare looked at each other before following suit.

.

At the Globe Rose stood up on the stage, looking about in wonder. On the school trip she hadn't been allowed on stage. It was simply breathtaking. The Doctor stood in the pit below here where the groundlings stood and watched. He looked around that the walls and seating.

"The columns there, right? 14 sides. I've always wondered but I never asked... tell me, Will, why 14 sides?"

"It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well."

"Why does that ring a bell? 14…"

"There are 14 lines in a sonnet," Rose said.

"So there is. Good point. Words and shapes following the same design." He began pacing around. "14 lines, 14 sides, 14 facets…Oh, my head. Tetradecagon... think, think, think! Words, letters, numbers, lines!"

"This is just a theatre!" Shakespeare said.

"You're kidding me, yeah?" Rose exclaimed. "It's not just _a_ theatre. It's _the_ theatre. The greatest theatre ever know. And a theatre is magic!"

"Exactly Rose! You're brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed. "You should know, Will. Standing on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time… Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy – change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. And if you exaggerate that…"

"It's like your police box," Martha said. "Small wooden box with all that _power_ inside."

"Oh… Oh, Martha Jones, I like you," he said. "Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?"

"You won't get an answer," Shakespeare said. "A month after finishing this place... lost his mind."

"Why? What happened?"

"Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled."

"Where is he now?" the Doctor asked.

"Bedlam."

"What's Bedlam?" Rose asked.

"Bethlem Hospital. The madhouse."

"We're going there," the Doctor said. "Right now. Come on." And he headed out the front. The other three jumped off the stage and followed.

"Wait!" Shakespeare called. "I'm coming with you. I want to witness this first hand."

As they passed two of the younger actors, Shakespeare stopped and handed them the play, reminding them to project.

"So, tell me of Freedonia," Shakespeare said as they walked. The Doctor walked a little ahead, holding Rose's hand. "Where women can be doctors, writers, actors…"

"This country's ruled by a woman," Martha pointed out.

"Ah, she's a royal. That's God's business. Though, you are a royal beauty."

"Whoa, Nelly!" Martha cried. "I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country."

"But Martha, this is town," he said sneakily. The Doctor came to a stop and turned him and Rose around.

"Come on," he said. "We can all have a good flirt later."

"Is that a promise, Doctor?" He looked between the two girls then looked the Doctor up and down.

"Oh," the Doctor sighed. "57 academics just punched the air. Now move!"

"He so just reminded me of Jack then," Rose said to him quietly as they ran.

**?...DW…?**

Bethlem hospital was a terrible place. It had a cold hard exterior and a fifthly inside. As they walked through the halls, men and woman – all insane and screaming – clung to the bars. Their mad eyes begging for help. The stench was foul.

The Doctor held Rose close to his side as a jailor led them to Peter Streete.

"Does my lord, Doctor, wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for ya. Bandog and Bedlam!"

"No I don't!" the Doctor said appalled. By the look on Rose's face, if it weren't for the fact he were holding a whip, she would have slapped him one.

"Wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the ladies," the Jailor stopped them. Then he walked off, leaving them amongst the lonely screaming insanity.

"So this is what you call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?" Martha said disgustedly.

"Oh, and it's all so different in Freedonia," Shakespeare said sarcastically.

"But you're clever!" Rose cried. "Do you honestly think this place is any good?"

"I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose."

"Mad in what way?" Martha asked. Suddenly Rose realized and her face softened.

"He lost his son," she said quietly.

"My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry…" Martha said.

"It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be… Oh, that's quite good."

"You should write that down," the Doctor smiled.

"Hmm, maybe not. A bit pretentious?"

"This way, My Lords," the Jailor called from the end of the hall. Together they made their way to the cell, which the Jailor unlocked for them. "They can be dangerous, my Lord," he warned. "Don't know their own strength."

"I think it helps if you don't whip them! Now get out!" the Doctor shouted. Somewhat sheepishly the Jailor left, closing the cell bars behind him. "Peter?" The Doctor said softly, walking towards a cowering man who was sitting on the bed, his back tot hem. "Peter Streete?"

"He's the same as he was," Shakespeare said. "You'll get nothing out of him."

"Peter?" the Doctor placed a hand on Peter's shoulder and suddenly his head snapped up to look at him with wild, glassy eyes. The Doctor placed his fingertips on Peter's temples and began to speak soothingly. "Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past, one year ago. Let your mind go back, back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A winter's tale. Let go. Listen. That's it, just let go." Slowly Peter relaxed a little and lay down. "Now Peter, tell me the story."

"Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. THEIR design! The 14 walls — always 14. When the work was done," he laughed manically. "They snapped poor Peter's wits."

"Well, where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city?" he crouched down beside the frantic, sacred madman. "Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me. Where were they?"

"All Hallows Street," Peter said in a moment of clarity.

Suddenly a gruesome figure appeared behind the Doctor.

"Too many words," she rasped, making the Doctor turn round in surprise and jumped backwards towards the others. It was a witch. Uglier and older than the one Rose had seen, but creepy none the less.

"What the hell?" Martha cried in surprise.

"Oh my god!" Rose said taking a step back.

"Just one touch of the heart…" she said, stretching out her hand. She pressed it to Peter's chest.

"No!" cried the Doctor and Rose at the same time.

Peter screamed in agony… and then was still.

.

"Witch! I'm seeing a witch!" Shakespeare said in disbelief.

"Now, who would be next?" the witch said. "Just one touch. Oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals."

Martha ran to the door, fining it shut she began rattling the bars.

"Let us out! Let us out!" she cried.

"That's not gonna work, the Doctor told her. "The whole building's shouting that."

"Who will die first, hmm?"

"Well, if you're looking for volunteers…" he said stepping forward.

"No! Don't!" Rose cried.

"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare said worriedly.

"No mortal has power over me," the witch sneered.

"Oh, but there's a power in words. If I can find the right one — if I can just know you..."

"None on Earth has knowledge of us."

"Then it's a good thing I'm here, he said. "Now think, think, think... Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy... ah, 14! That's it! 14! The 14 stars of the Rexel planetary configuration! Creature, I name you _Carrionite_!"

Shrieking the witch disappeared. The four of them were left staring silently at the empty space.

"What did you do?" Rose asked.

"I named her," he said. "Power of a name, that's old magic."

"But there's no such thing as magic," Martha said.

"Well, it's just a different sort of science," he explained. "You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead."

"Use them for what?" Shakespeare demanded.

"The end of the world," came his quiet reply.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor, Rose, Martha and Shakespeare sat in Shakespeare's room. Rose had recovered from the shock and was back to her normal perky self. She was doing better than anyone else. Martha was standing there with her arms crossed, looking worried. Shakespeare was so freaked out that he was splashing his face with water. The Doctor paced around the room as he explained.

"The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend."

"Well, I'm going for real!" Shakespeare said moodily. "Witches!"

"Yip. Double, double, toil and trouble and all. So, what do they actually want?" Rose asked. In her experience: Alien + Earth = Bad.

"A new empire on Earth. A world of bones and blood and witchcraft."

"But how?" Martha asked fearfully.

"I'm looking at the man with the words," the Doctor said looking pointedly at Shakespeare.

"Me?" he exclaimed. "But I've done nothing."

"Wait a minute," Rose said. "What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?"

"Finishing the play." Three heads looked up at him sharply.

"What happens on the last page?" the Doctor asked.

"The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual — Except," he said looking up uncertainly, "those last few lines. Funny thing is... I don't actually remember writing them."

"That's it!" The Doctor exclaimed, going over to him. "They used you. They gave you the final words. Likea spell, like a code. 'Love's Labours Won' — it's a weapon! The right combination of words, spoken at the right place with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing! And yes, you can have that."

Soon the four of them were leaning over a amp, looking for All Hallows Street. Rose tried not to laugh at how stereotypical it sounded. Witches living in _All Hallows_ Street! It was like meeting a guy called Elmo who lived on Sesame Street!

"All Hallows Street," the Doctor said, pointing it out. "Rose, Martha, we'll track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. What ever you do, stop that play!"

"I'll do it," he said, holding out his hand to shake the Doctors. "All these years I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing."

"Don't complain!" Martha said.

"I'm not!" Shakespeare laughed. "It's marvellous. Good luck, Doctor."

"Good luck, Shakespeare," he replied. "Once more unto the breach!" he cried as they ran out the door.

"I like that," Shakespeare said. "Wait a minute… that's one of mine!"

"Oh, just shift," the Doctor told him.

.

The Doctor, Rose and Martha walked the streets until they came upon the right one.

"All Hallows Street," the Doctor stated. "But which house?"

"The thing is, though... am I missing something here?" Martha said. "The world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me — I'm living proof."

"History can be rewritten," Rose told her. "It's not pretty."

"How to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux?" the Doctor pondered. "I know! 'Back to the Future'! It's like 'Back to the Future'!"

"The film?" Martha said in disbelief.

"No, the novelisation," he said sarcastically. "Yes, the film. Marty McFly goes back and changes history..."

"And he starts fading away…" a look of realisation spread across her face. "Oh my god, am I going to fade away?"

"Better than having Reapers clean up," Rose muttered, remembering the hellish fiasco that occurred when she had saved her dad.

"Yes," the Doctor replied to Martha. "You and the entire future of the human race. It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it. But which house?" Off to the side a door slowly creaked open by it's self. "Ah, make that _witch_ house," he joked.

The three of them made their way to the door. The Doctor and Martha made it through just fine, but when Rose tried to walk through it was like walking into a glass window. The Doctor looked back at her in surprise.

"Rose?" he said sounding worried.

"I – I can't get through," she said hitting against the barrier. The Doctor came back and pushed against the barrier. But he was stuck on that side.

"It's a two way barrier, we're trapped in, you're trapped out. Oh, I am not liking this," he said.

"It's okay," Rose tried to reassure him and picked up a broken plank of wood from the ground. "No stupid witch is going to get close enough to put a spell on me," she smiled at him.

He smiled weakly back at her and just looked at her a moment. "Be careful," he said before continuing up the stairs.

"You too."

.

The Doctor and Martha pushed across a dirty curtain and walked into a filthy room. Herbs were hung, drying from racks and a caldron bubbled in the middle of the room. Behind it stood a woman in long black dress. It was Lilith, the inn maid.

"I take it we're expected," The Doctor said.

"Oh, I think death has been waiting a very long time for you," Lilith said obviously happy at thought of taking blood.

"Right then," Martha said stepping for ward and pointing at the witch. "It's my turn. I know how to do this. _I name thee, Carrionite!_" Lilith gasped mockingly, but remained unaffected. "What did I do wrong?" Martha asked sadly. "Was it the finger?"

"Power of the name only works once," she sneered, then pointed at Martha. "Observe. I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones."

Martha collapsed, falling backwards. The Doctor caught her and lowered her gently tot eh ground.

"What have you done!" he demanded.

"Only sleeping, alas," Lilith said looking at her finger as if there were something wrong or interesting about it. "Curious, the name has less impact. She's somehow out of her time. And as for you, Sir Doctor! – Fascinating… there is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair?" For a second her eyes flicked towards the door. "Oh, but look," she smiled evilly. "There's still one word with the power that aches."

"The naming wont work on me," he told her.

"Ah, but now there's only one way to wake her from her fitful doze,  
>Run now and save your beloved… Rose."<p>

"Oh, big mistake!" the Doctor cried standing up and running so he was not far from the Carrionites. "Because that name keeps me fighting! She give's me strength and you are going to regret trying to bring her into this. Oh, and that wouldn't have done anything either," he told her. "Because naming has limits, and My guess is that the limit is inside this building. And since Rose is stuck outside because of your oh so cleaver barricade to trap us in… The Carrionites vanished! Where did you go?"

"The Eternals found the right word to banish us into deep darkness," Lilith replied, a smile still on her face.

"And how did you escape?"

"New words. New glittering words from a mind like no other."

"Shakespeare."

"His son perished. The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance."

"How many of you?" he asked.

"Just the three," she said. "But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then the human race will be purged as pestilence. And from this world we will lead the universe back to the old ways of blood and magic." He walked up to her so they were standing face to face.

"Hmm, busy schedule," he said in his usual unfazed manor. "But first, you've got to get past me."

"Oh, that should be a pleasure considering my enemy has such a handsome shape," she said seductively running her fingers along his face and caressing his hair.

"Now, that's one form of magic that's defiantly not going to work on me," he nearly laughed.

"Oh, we'll see," she said. Then she yanked a lock of his hair, ripping it out. Then she backed away, holding it before her.

The Doctor's hand flew to his head and he rubbed the sore spot. "What did you do?" he cried.

"Souvenir."

"Well, give it back!" He tried to reach for her, but she spread her arms and she flew backwards out the window that had just opened itself. She floated in front of the window, just out of his reach. "Well, that's just cheating," he said.

"Behold, Doctor," Lilith said. "Men to Carrionites are nothing but puppets." She pulled a doll from her pocket and began wrapping his hair around it.

"Now, you might call that magic," the Doctor said. "But I'd call that a DNA replication module."

"What use is your science now?" Lilith scoffed. She stabbed the doll through the heart.

And the Doctor fell to the ground.


	16. The Shakespeare Code, How Typical

**How Typical**

.

.

Martha woke from what ever the witch had done to her, in time to see her stab a doll and the Doctor all seemingly lifeless to the ground. Cackling the witch flew away.

"Oh my god! Doctor!" She cried rushing over to him "Don't worry, I've got you." She lolled him over and checked for a heart beat. There was one very strong beat… but only one. "Hold on, mister. Two hearts!"

"You're making a habit of this," he murmured before trying to get up. But he fell to the ground again crying out in pain. Martha supported him so he didn't fall all the way. "I've only got one heart working," he said. "How do you people cope? I've got to get the other one started. Hit me! Hit me on the chest!" She did. "Ahh! Other side!" She hit him again, but on the other side this time. "On the back! On the back!" She pushed him over and hit him on the back. "Left a bit!" She hit him yet again. "Ahh, lovely," he said getting up. "Ba-da Boom!"

It was then that Martha noticed something. It had been hard to see because the curtain was blocking the door way. But there, just poking out the bottom, was a hand.

"Doctor!" She cried in alarm rushing out the door to help them. She gasped when she saw that the person lying on the floor was Rose.

"Rose!" the Doctor cried as he pushed the curtain aside. They both knelt beside her in a flash. "Oh no, no, no, no, no."

"She's breathing," Martha said.

"Of course she is, she's only sleeping," the Doctor said quickly. "They must have let down the barrier in time for her to walk in when she named her. A distraction just in case Lilith couldn't kill me." He brushed a stray strand of Rose's hair off her face.

"If she's meant to be a distraction and she's only sleeping, can't we leave her somewhere safe and go stop them?" Martha asked. The Doctor glared at her.

"No!" he said sharply. "I'm not leaving without her."

"Alright then," she soothed. "Well, what did she say. What put her under."

"Umm… 'Only one way to wake her from her fitful doze, run now and save your beloved Rose'."

"Okay, so she's asleep, only one thing can wake her, and by the sounds of it, you're the only one who can do it… I got it!" she cried. "A kiss!"

"I'm sorry what?" he looked at her.

"A kiss… Oh come on Doctor. Think about it. This whole thing is stereotypically witchy. And we all know how much witched love curses that can be broken with a kiss."

"Martha, this isn't a fairytale," he said.

"Her heartbeat's getting weaker by the minute," she said now starting to worry. "Look, it's worth a try. It might save her life. And it's not like you haven't kissed her before!"

"True," he admitted. "Not the first time I've kissed her to save her life either. Sucked the time vortex out of her, she doesn't remember though."

"Quit stalling and bloody kiss her!" Martha cried.

Sighing the Doctor gently picked Rose up, supporting her head. And hesitantly he kissed her. It was just a small one, soft and sweet. Then he waited.

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Rose had been leaning against the barrier like it was a wall. It was pretty fun, she almost felt like a mime. But then suddenly it collapsed beneath her and she fell through the doorway. Slowly and quietly she had crept up the stairs to see what was happening. As she got closer to the door she could hear the Doctor and the witch speaking. The only thing she could make out clearly was her name.

The she collapsed to the ground. It had been as if her body had fallen asleep, it was all limp and floppy, her eyes were closed. But she was still fully conscious. It was as if she were paralysed, her body was too heavy to move even a finger.

But she could hear everything that was going on. When she heard the Doctor say that her name kept him fighting she would have smiled if she could.

She was surprised to hear that the barricade had all been planned. But not as shocked as she was to hear that he had kissed her to take the time vortex out of her.

When he kissed her, warmth spread through her, reaching through to her toes. She didn't know whether that was the magic or the fact that he'd kissed her. But soon she began to feel the control of her body come back to her.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked straight back into his.

"Hello," she said softly. "What did I miss?"

"Ha ha! Yes!" he cried helping her up. "I swear Rose Tyler; you are the most jeopardy friendly companion I've _ever_ had!" he pulled her into a hug. Then they ran down the stairs as fast as they could

"How many companions has he had?" Martha said to Rose as they ran towards the Globe.

"He's 902…" Rose said. "I'd say too many."

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When they ran around the corner to the Globe they stopped dead. Above the Globe raged an unnatural fiery storm

"I told thee so!" Cried the preacher. "I told thee!"

"Don't look so happy about it, Mate," Rose muttered.

"Stage door!" the Doctor told them.

They ran into the door and burst in backstage to see Shakespeare sitting down, nursing his head.

"Stop the play!" the Doctor cried. "I think that was it. Yeah, I said 'stop the play'!"

"I hit my head," he said pathetically.

"Yeah, don't rub it – you'll go bald." A loud scream came from outside. "I think that's my cue!" he said happily, grabbing Rose's hand they rushed out on stage. Martha gabbed Shakespeare's hand and followed.

Up in the galleries they saw the three witches, cackling their heads off. They were holding an orb which a red storm of lighting was tornado-ing out of. Then thousands of black cloaked figures began pouring from the orb. People cowered in fear.

"Come on Will!" the Doctor cried pulling him forward. "History needs you!"

"But what can I do?" he shouted.

"Reverse it!"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"The shape of the Globe gives words power," the doctor said. "But you're the Wordsmith. The one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it!"

"But what words? I have none ready!"

"You're William Shakespeare!" he cried incredulously.

"But these Carrionite phrases, they need such precision!"

"Trust yourself," he said. "When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they? Like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm — words that last forever! That's what you do, Will! You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise!"

Shakespeare looked at him a moment longer, then stepped forward on the stage.

"Close up this den of hateful, dire decay!" he shouted. "Decomposition of your witches' plot! You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not! Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show! Between the points…" he looked at the Doctor, not knowing what the co-ordinates were.

"7-6-1-3-9-0!"

"7-6-1-3-9-0! And banished like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee…" What the hell could he say that rhymed with cuss?

"Expelliarmus!" Martha suggested. Hmm, it worked.

"Expelliarmus!" the Doctor confirmed.

"Expelliarmus!" Shakespeare cried.

"Good old J.K!"

.

The witches began screaming and were sucked back into the orb, a door blew open and a whirlwind of paper blew at them and were sucked into the orb too.

"Love's Labour's Won'. There it goes!"

Then the storm and the red swirling clouds disappeared. He audience breathed a sigh of relief, then ever so hesitantly they began to clap.

The perplexed cast bowed to them.

"They think it's special effects," Martha said in surprise.

"Your effect is special indeed," Shakespeare flirted.

"Not your best line."

Smiling, Shakespeare took Rose and Martha's hand and they bowed too.

"I've always wanted to do this," Rose said in an excited whisper.

.

The Doctor however ran off into the Galleries and picked up the crystal orb. Inside the three witches scratched and tried fruitlessly to get out. With a look down at the stage, he smiled seeing Rose enjoying herself. Then he took the orb back down.

**?...DW…?**

The next morning the four of them were down at the globe again. Shakespeare was sitting on the stage telling jokes to Martha while Rose climbed excitedly to the balcony.

"Okay, okay," she said, then shook herself into character. "Act 2, Scene 2," she began.

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?  
>Deny thy father and refuse thy name.<br>Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,  
>And I'll no longer be a Capulet.<br>'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.  
>Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.<br>What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,  
>Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part<br>Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!  
>What's in a name? That which we call a rose<br>By any other word would smell as sweet.  
>So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,<br>Retain that dear perfection which he owes  
>Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,<br>And for that name, which is no part of thee  
>Take all myself."<p>

"I take thee at thy word," the Doctor said, emerging from the prop store, his arms loaded.  
>"Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized.<br>Henceforth I never will be Romeo." Rose laughed and climbed back down. "Good props store back there! I'm not sure about this though…" He held up some sort of animal scull. "Reminds me of a Sycorax!" He pointed it playfully at Rose.

"Sycorax. Nice word. I'll have that off you as well," Shakespeare said.

"I should be on 10%. How's your head?"

"Still aching."

"Here, I got you this," he said taking a ruffle off his neck and sticking it around Shakespeare's. Rose tried hard not to laugh, it looked so right. "Neck brace. Wear that for a few days till it's better. Although, you might wanna keep it. It suits you."

"What about the play?" Rose asked.

"Gone. I looked all over. Every single copy of 'Love's Labour's Won' went up on the sky."

"My lost masterpiece," he said mournfully.

"You could write it up again…" Martha suggested.

"Yeah, better not Will," the Doctor cut in. "There's still power in those words. Maybe it should best stay forgotten."

"Oh, but I've got new ideas. Perhaps it's time I wrote about fathers and sons. In memory of my boy – my precious Hamnet."

"Hamnet?" Martha said in surprise.

"That's him."

"Ham_net!_"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Rose said. "We just know someone pretty famous with a very similar name. It's not very common where we're from."

"Anyway," the Doctor said. "Time we were off. I've got a nice attic in the TARDIS where this lot," he held up the crystal orb, "can scream for all eternity. And I've got to take Martha… and ah, Rose - back to Freedonia."

"You mean travel in time and space," Shakespeare said surprising them all.

"You what?" the Doctor said flabbergasted.

"You're from another world like the Carrionites and Martha and Rose are from the future. It's not hard to work out."

"That's... incredible. You are incredible."

"Though my guess is you're not dropping Rose off in the future. She's your…" Both the Doctor and Rose looked at him with a mix of warning and curiosity. "Well, never mind. We're alike in many ways, Doctor." He turned to Rose. "You truly are talented Rose. It's a pity you couldn't stay longer to perform. You and the Doctor would make a great Romeo and Juliette." Shakespeare winked. The two of them looked at each other taken back. "Oh, and Rose, remember what I said: it's stronger than that." Rose nodded and he turned to Martha. "Martha my dear, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my Dark Lady… Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate-"

"Will! Will!" one of the actors cried running in, another actor not far behind. "You'll never believe it! She's here! She's turned up!"

"We're the talk of the town," the other one said. "She heard about last night! She wants us to perform it again."

Both men were acting very excited.

"Who?" Martha asked.

"Her Majesty! She's here!"

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Next thing they knew there was a fanfare and the extravagant Queen glided in.

"Queen Elizabeth I!" the Doctor cried in delight.

"Doctor!" she hissed.

"What?" he said, surprised at her hateful tone.

"My sworn enemy!"

"What?"

"Off with his head!" she shrieked!

"_What?_"

"Never mind 'What'," Martha said. "Just run! See you Will! And thanks!"

"Stop that pernicious Doctor!" the queen shouted as they three of them ran out of the Globe to the TARDIS.

They were perused the entire way by a few men in arms.

"Stop in the name of the Queen!" one of them shouted notching an arrow.

"What is it with you and Queens? What have you done this time?" Rose cried as he unlocked the TARDIS.

"How should I know?" he said. "Haven't even met her yet. That's time travel for you!" he said to Martha. "Still, can't wait to find out." He stepped inside the TARDIS after the girls and then popped his head back out. "That's something to look forward to. Oh!" he said. Quickly he shut the door and there was a 'thunk' as an arrow hit the outside of the door.

He, Rose and Martha looked at each other a moment… before they fell to the floor in fits of laughter.

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_**Yay! So that's that one. Gridlock coming right up.**_

_**I really couldn't resist with this one. I absolutely LOVE / ADORE / BREATHE / LIVE Shakespeare. So yes… everything I've quoted of his is accurate. I know which years he wrote what… I'm just guttered I lot my notes on the Globe.**_

_**Funnily enough I cant stand Juliette, to me she's a little daft. But Rose would do a good Juliette no matter what the character was like I recon. It was either that or Puck… I like puck =D**_

_**.**_

_**Anyway. Hope you liked it. Please review! I'll give you a cyber *BIG-HUG-sqishy-cuddle*!**_


	17. Gridlock, New New York

_**Alrighty. It took me a while to decide what to do with this one. I didn't want to change it too much and I wanted to keep it realistic. But I also wanted to show the side of the Doctor you only see when Rose is in danger (and not around him).**_

_**But finally I came to what I believe is the right decision.**_

_**So anyway. Disclaimer blah, blah, blah…**_

_**ENJOY!**_

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***Gridlock***

**New, New York**

"Aww, come on," Rose grinned at the Doctor adorably. "You have to admit she's good."

"Oooh…" he sighed not all that unwillingly. He did like Martha… and the way Rose was looking at him! "Oh alright!" he said. "I said just _one_ trip. One trip in the TARDIS, and then home. But, I suppose we could… stretch the definition. How about one trip to the past, one to the future? How do you fancy that?"

"No complaints from me!" Martha said excitedly.

"How about a different planet?" Rose suggested. "We haven't taken her through space yet."

"Can we go to your planet?" Martha asked the Doctor. The Doctor's excitement left him in a second and Rose paused, unsure of how to react.

"Na, there's plenty of other places!" he said shrugging it off. The way he said it was as if he could go there almost every day. Rose looked up at him with sympathy and compassion in her eyes. She had to be the one person who understood him, who knew why he was pretending.

"Come on, though" Martha said oblivious to the change of moods. "Planet of the Time Lords, that's got to be worth a look! What's it like?"

"It's beautiful, yeah," he said trying to sound off-hand. Martha grinned widely.

"Martha…" Rose tried to say. But she just couldn't ruin this for him. She couldn't make it worse for him than it already was.

"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"

"Suppose it is," he replied. Rose only picked up that he had stumbled over the word 'is' because she knew him so well, and she knew the word was a lie.

"Great big temples and cathedrals?" Martha went on excitedly.

"Yeah…" he said, his voice strained, he was focused as hard as he could at the monitor. Rose slipped her hand into his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Lots of planets in the sky?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "The sky's a burnt orange," he told them wistfully. "With the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever – slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow…"

Martha was looking at him with a look of absolute enthralment. Rose, who could practically feel his longing for his home, wore a small sad smile. Gallifrey sounded beautiful. Hearing about its beauty and splendour made her ache for its loss. She would do anything to visit it once, to see where the Doctor had lived.

"Can we go there?" Martha asked breathlessly. Completely captivated by his words.

"Na!" he cried, breaking the spell. "Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home!" he cried. If only Martha knew how much he was lying. How much he desperately wanted to see Gallifrey's magnificent beauty one last time. "Instead…" He danced around the console, flicking the usual buttons. "This is much better," he stated as the TARDIS landed. "Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth! Second hope of mankind! Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New, New York. Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

"Really Doctor…" Rose rolled her eyes at his repeated joke.

They stepped outside – straight into the pouring rain. Rose squealed in delight and put her hands over her head.

"Oh, that's nice!" Martha said sarcastically, doing up her jacket. "The Time Lord version of dazzling!"

"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone," he said. "Come on, let's get under cover."

They made their way to somewhere that was relatively dry.

"I like the rain," Rose said. "But I have to say that me and this planet have a history of getting wet! Good old New, New York. Always something new."

"New, new Doctor," the Doctor grinned at their joke the first time round.

"New, new life," Rose said back.

"New, new companion," he added.

"What the hell," Rose laughed carelessly. "Why not new, new me."

The Doctor smiled broadly. "Wow, that just reminded me of…" he trailed off what he was going to say and went with the next best thing. He coughed slightly and scratched the back of his head, looking somewhat guilty. "Cassandra…" he finished.

"Cassandra!" Rose cried.

"Well, not Cassandra per se," he tried to cover up. "She said that at some point. But I never paid too much attention to it. I was a little bit… distracted – Anyway-" he said quickly trying to change the subject.

"Are you really comparing me to Cassandra?" Rose said angrily.

"No!" he cried in desperation. "I wasn't really thinking of her. It just… well you said it, and she said it, and it reminded me of something else and-"

"Who's Cassandra?" Martha asked, bailing him out a little. How was he supposed to explain that he had been thinking of when Rose had kissed him? Yes, he knew it was really Cassandra, but he'd always thought of that moment as her being just Rose.

"The Last True Human," Rose replied bitterly.

"She possessed Rose last time we were here," the Doctor explained. "Well me too… but mostly Rose. I knew something was wrong right away, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I thought the nuns had done something to her."

"Nuns?" Martha said in confusion.

"Hospital full of Cat–Nurse–Nun–Thingies," Rose said relaxing again. "It was quite and adventure last time here on New Earth."

"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me," she said as they finally reached shelter. "On a Wednesday afternoon."

"Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look," the Doctor said spotting some sort of screen on the wall.

He led them over to it and turned it on with the sonic screwdriver. When that didn't work properly he reverted to his usual method of getting technology to work and banged on it. A woman came clearly into view on the screen.

"-And the driving should be clear and easy," the woman said brightly. "With fifteen extra lanes open for the New, New Jersey expressway." The woman flicked off and it showed the beautiful city they had been in last time.

"Oh, that's more like it!" he said happily. "That's the view we had last time."

"Where the field smell of apple grass," Rose smiled.

"This must be the lower levels," he continued. "Down in the base of the tower, some sort of under-city."

"You've brought me to the slums?" Martha said in annoyance, yet there was still a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Much more interesting!" he cried. "It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."

"You'd enjoy anything," Rose laughed nudging him a little.

"That's me," he smiled. "Oh, the rain's stopping! Better and better!"

"Aw, I liked the rain," Rose said, but the smile stayed on her face. "He just get's annoyed because it flattens his hair," she said aside to Martha. The Doctor looked up at his wet flat hair in annoyance before spiking the front up again.

"So, what's it like up there then?" Martha asked after he giggles had subsided.

"It was nice I guess. My memory's a little foggy. I spent most of my time here being crushed at the back of my own mind."

"Oh…" Martha said lost for words. "Well, what about New, New England? Have you been there yet.

"No, no. It's just 'New England'," the Doctor corrected her. "Only places with a 'New' already got a 'New, New'. Hmm, I'd quite like to see what New, New Zealand's like…"

Suddenly the top of one of the green boxes built into the wall opened up to reveal a vendors cart. A man looked out at them and a smile spread across his face.

"Oh! You should have said," he said in delight. "How long have you been standing there? Happy! You want happy. Happy!"

Suddenly another cart opened and a woman called out.

"Customers!" she cried. "Customers! We've got customers!" Soon carts all around them began to open their tops and yell things out.

"We're in business! Mother open up the Mellow, and the Read!" one of them called out the back.

Soon they were all shouting at the tree of them. Telling them to buy some Happy, some Anger, some Mellow…

"Don't go to them," the first guy said. "They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"

"No thanks," the Doctor said rather _un_happily.

"Are they selling drugs?" Martha said.

"I think they're selling moods."

"Same thing isn't it?" Rose said in disgust.

Then behind them came a small looking young woman. She was very pail, wearing dark bedraggled clothes and a shawl covering her head. Her appearance caused the pharmacists to call out even more. Obviously encouraged by the way she looked.

"Come over here, yeah," the pharmacist closest to them said. "And what can I get you, my love?"

"I want to buy Forget," the woman said in a low voice.

"I've got forget, my darling," the pharmacist said brightly. "What strength? How much you want forgetting?"

"It's my mother an father. They went on the motorway," the woman said in way of explanation.

"Aw, that's a swine!" She reached under the counter and pulled out a small clear plastic patch with a green crescent moon and the word 'Forget' on it. "Try this," she said. "Forget Forty-three. That's two credits."

The pail woman paid the credits and took the patch. The Doctor stopped her as she made to turn away.

"Sorry, but – hold on a minute," he said. "What happened to your parents?"

"They drove off," she replied sadly.

"They might drive back," he said not comprehending why the woman would be so upset about her parents taking a drive.

"Everyone goes to the motor way in the end," she said darkly. "I've lost them."

"But they can't have gone far. You could find them."

Shaking her head the woman pushed aside her shall and stuck the patch on her neck.

"No! No, no don't!" he cried. But it was too late. The second she stuck it to her neck, her forlorn look became one of peace. But she also seemed slightly out of it as if she were unaware of her surroundings. She turned and looked at the three of them in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked dozily.

"Your parents," the Doctor reminded her. "Your mother and father. They're on the motorway.

"Are they? That's nice…" It was like all the impact of that saying had been lost to her. "I'm sorry," she said. "I won't keep you." Then she walked passed them, and with a gentle sway in her step, headed down the back ally.

Rose looked at the retreating woman. The Doctor stood closest to the ally, watching the woman go with a broody expression. Martha was watching her go in apparent disgust.

"So that's the human race five billion years in the future?" Martha said somewhat scornfully. "Off their heads on chemicals."

Rose was just about to tell her that not everyone was like that when she heard scuffling behind her. Before she could turn around, an arm wrapped around her body, pinning her arms. And a gun was pointed to her head. Involuntarily she let out a small scream. Martha and the Doctor turned immediately and their looks became ones of fear. She struggled but the man held her even tighter.

"I'm sorry," he said as a woman ran forward and pointed her gun at the other two. "I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all."

"No! Let her go!" The Doctor shouted at them in anger and desperation. His voice was almost lost amongst the pairs pleading apologies and Martha and Roses cries. "I'm warning you!" he shouted in rage. "Let her go! What ever you want, I can help. All of us, we can help. But first you have to let her go!"

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. Sorry!" the woman kept saying over and over again. They opened a door and pushed Rose through. Then they slammed it shut behind them, separating Rose and the Doctor.

**?...DW…?**

Rose was jerked roughly down a stair well and dragged over to some sort of car.

"You're going to be in so much trouble when the Doctor catches up," she shouted at them. "And never mind him, I'll kill you myself! Let go of me!" She managed to break free a moment but the man grabbed her again and pulled her closer.

"Give her some Sleep," he told the woman urgently.

"Don't you dare! Don't put that stuff on me, don't! Get that away from me! Get off!" she cried as the woman advanced with another patch.

But struggling was fruitless and soon the woman was pressing the patch to the skin on her neck.

"It's just Sleep," she soothed desperately. "It won't do you any harm if you don't fight it."

"Don't!" she screamed, her voice breaking.

"That's it, come on. That's it," she soothed. She appeared rather upset, but purposeful.

The world around her swam for a moment and black crept in at the edges. Her last thought before it consumed her completely, was that she knew her Doctor would come. Very soon she would be free…


	18. Gridlock, A Long Time

_**Hello. Just thought I'd warn you all now. I may be getting these up a little slower than I started out. See I'm one of those annoying people who have work… and a life. So I'll probably update anywhere between 2 -6 days.**_

_**What's that? I DO SO HAVE A LIFE… well, half a life… a little bit of a life… yeah okay, I have no life at all =D**_

_**Anyway, I'm quite happy with this piece. With the other's I'm sticking to the script as close as I can other than adding in Rose parts and editing out parts that are no longer relevant. But on ones like these where Rose has swapped with someone I get near free reign! Yay! God, Human Nature and Family of Blood are practically going to have next to NO original lines!**_

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**A Long Time**

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The Doctor rushed to the door in a raging panic and tried to open it.

"Give her back to me!" he shouted through the door at the retreating figures.

He opened the door with the sonic-screwdriver and ran after them. They were no longer in sight, but that didn't stop him from finding his way. He'd forgotten about Martha who was tagging along after him. There was only single minded determination to get Rose back.

He emerged out onto the top of a flight of stairs just in time to see a black car fly off out of the ally.

"Rose!" he shouted frantically as the vehicle sped away. "Come on!" he said running back. Martha, who had only just caught up, sighed before turning around and following him again.

Back where they had started, all the pharmacy stalls had closed. Urgently he pounded on the nearest one. The pharmacist who ha sold Forget to the pail woman opened up and smiled broadly at them.

"Thought you'd be back," she said. "Do you want some Happy-Happy?"

The Doctor just scowled at her. "Those people," he demanded furiously. "Who were they? Where did they take her?"

"They've taken her to the motorway," the first pharmacist they'd met told them, suddenly opening his stall. The other stall woman opened her door too.

"Looked like carjackers to me," said the first woman casually, like it was nothing much to worry about.

"I'd give up now, darling," the other woman said. "You won't see her again."

"Used to be thriving," the guy told them. "You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end." The Doctor spun around, glaring at the three of them. He didn't give a damn about this place's lack of business.

"He kept saying 'we need three'. What did he mean three?"

"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults."

"How do we get to the motorway?" Martha asked, not wanting the Doctor to get even angrier.

"Straight down the ally, keep going to the end. You can't miss it." The Doctor strode in that direction before she had finished speaking, he didn't want to waist a second. Especially not on these people. "How about some Happy-Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love"

At this he rounded on them angrily. "Word of advice, all of you," he said harshly. "Cash up, close down, and pack your bags."

"Why's that then?" the pharmacist said sounding offended.

"Because as soon as I find her alive and well – and I _will_ find her alive and well – then I'm coming back. And this street is closing. Tonight!"

The pharmacists looked at each other apprehensively. And the Doctor stormed off, fists clenched, and Martha in tow.

**?...DW…?**

Rose blinked. Her head hurt and her vision was horribly blurry. She could hear foggy voices not far away.

"-from the windows. You can see all the way out to the Flatlands. The sky… They say the air smells of apple grass. Can you imagine?"

Sleepily she rubbed her neck and found the Sleep patch. Frowning she peeled it off and flicked it away. She was dizzy and her brain was only just beginning to work again, but it fornt of her was one of the guns… Quickly she took her chance, snatched it up and pointed it at the coupe.

"Take me back," She commanded. The couple turned and looked at her in surprise. "Whoever the hell you are, just take me back to the Doctor. That's all I want. I won't call the police or anything, won't cause ya any trouble. Just take be back, yeah? Take me back!"

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "That's not a real gun."

"Yeah, well… you _would_ say that."

"Where would you get a gun from these days?" she said incredulously. "I wouldn't even know how to fire!"

"Yeah, I never would," she sighed chucking the gun aside. "I hate those things."

"What's your name," the woman said trying to be friendly now.

"It's Rose. Rose Tyler.

"Well I'm Cheen, and this is Milo," she told her. Gingerly Rose stood and made her way to stand up by them. She wasn't scared. These people looked fairly nice and she'd been in worse hostage situations before… like say, a Dalek. "And I swear, we're really sorry," Cheen continued. "We're really, really sorry. We just needed access to the fast lane. But I promise, as soon as we arrive we'll drop you off and you can go back and find your friends."

"Seriously?" she said in disbelief.

"I swear! Look," she flipped back her hair to reveal one of those patches. "Honesty patch," she stated proudly.

"What? So you kidnapped me just so you can go for a drive? Where the hell are we anyway?

"We're on the motorway," Milo finally spoke. Rose peered out the front window and looked about. She could see a few cars round them but most of them vanished into the smoke.

"What's that out there? Fog?"

"It's exhaust fumes," Cheen rolled her eyes.

"We're going to Brooklyn," Milo told her. "Everyone says the air is so much cleaner. And we couldn't stay in Pharmacy Town, because…" he smiled adoringly at Cheen and rubbed her knee affectionately.

"Well, 'cause of me," she finished. "I'm pregnant. We only discovered last week. Scan says it's going to be a boy." Beside her Milo grinned and pulled his fist down in a victory gesture.

"Awww," she sighed sweetly. She always turned to mush at the mention of a baby and she had to remind herself to be harder on them. "Am I supposed to be congratulating my kidnappers?" she said in the same tone. Though it came out more like questioning laughter than the snarky comment she had aimed for.

"Oh, we're not kidnappers. Not really."

"Not kidnappers!" she exclaimed nearly laughing. They had pointed a gun – real or not – to her head and put a Sleep patch on her! "Wow, you are idiots. That was a kidnapping. And you," she leaned forward and ripped the Honesty patch off Cheen's neck, causing her to yelp, "are pregnant! You're having a baby, and you're wearing that?" Cheen rubbed her neck and looked at her resentfully.

"We'll be as fast as we can," Milo told her quietly. "We'll take the motorway to the Brooklyn flyover. And then after that it's gonna take a while, 'cause then there's no fast lane, just ordinary roads. But at least it's direct."

"It's only 10 miles," Cheen assured her.

"So, how long is it going to take?"

"About six years," she said as if it were nothing.

"I'm sorry, _what_?" Rose said in disbelief.

"It'll be just in time for him to start school!" Cheen and Milo ginned at each other.

"No, no, no, no _hold on!_" Rose cried. "Six years? _Ten_ miles in _six_ years? How come?"

She looked at them incredulously as neither of them answered. No, six years couldn't be right. She had to get back now! She had to get back to the Doctor.

**?...DW…?**

"She's going to be okay," Martha tried to reassure the Doctor as they reached a door that read 'Motorway Access'. "They looked more scared than anything, and if they need her…"

The Doctor turned to look at her and forced a smile on his face. Her words didn't reassure him at all, only having Rose safe in his arms would do that. But it had been nice of her to try.

He used the sonic to unlock the door and they stepped out onto a small platform. Martha gasped and instantly began to choke on the thick smoke that surrounded them. Before them thousands upon millions of cars were stuck in the universe's _biggest_ traffic-jam.

How was he ever going to find Rose like this?

The air was so thick and foul with exhaust fumes that the two of them were standing there choking. They wouldn't be able to last out here long.

Just then the door of the nearest car slid open and they saw a man with a scarf over his face. He leaned over and held his and out.

"Hey, you daft little street struts!" he shouted at them. "What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in!"

Seeing this as his only hope, the Doctor jumped through the door and into the car. After a small fearful look at the empty space below her, Martha jumped in too. They were coughing like anything and quickly a woman handed them both and oxygen mask and they took them gratefully.

"Did you ever see the like?" the man muttered as he sat back down in the driver's seat. He pulled off the scarf and goggles to reveal that he was a cat like the Sisters of Plenitude, Martha's eyes widened. "They were just standing there breathing it in! There's this story says back in the old days, on Junction Forty-Seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet!"

"Oh, you're making it up!" the woman laughed.

"I fifty-foot head!" he continued. "Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose."

"Stop it. That's disgusting!"

"What? Did you never pick your nose?"

"Bran, we're moving," she said tapping his arm, all jokes aside.

"Right," he said seriously. "I'm there, I'm on it." He put the car in gear and moved them forward a little, but soon they were boxed in again. After a few seconds he pulled back the leaver and stopped them.

"Twenty yards," he said happily. "We're having a good day. Then he and the woman turned back to the Doctor and Martha who had just taken off their oxygen masks. "And who might you two be? Very well-dressed for hitchhikers."

"Thanks," the Doctor said. "Sorry, I'm the Doctor. This is Martha Jones."

"A medical man!" the cat cried. "My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan. And this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."

"Nice to meet you," Valerie said.

"And you," Martha smiled back.

"Oh, and the rest of the family's behind you," Brannigan told them nodding to a curtain. The Doctor drew it back to reveal a basket of adorable kittens.

"Aww, that's nice," he cooed. "Hello!"

"Mama," one of the kittens mewed.

"Oh my god they're real kittens!" Martha said somewhat in shock.

"Well of course they're _real kittens_," the Doctor scoffed picking up one of the kittens and scratching under its chin. "What else would they be." He turned to Brannigan. "So they did end up passing the law on Catkind and Humans marrying?"

"A couple of Decades back," he told them. "Where have you been all that time, then?"

"Oh, bit of everywhere," he said in his usual evasive manor. "So how old are they?"

"Just two months," Valerie smiled.

"Poor little souls," Brannigan sighed. "They've never known the ground beneath their paws." The Doctor shot him a confused look. "Children of the motorway."

"What, they were born in here?"

"We couldn't stop," Valerie told them. "We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance."

"You've been driving for two months?" Martha said incredulously.

"Do I look like a teenager?" Brannigan laughed. "We've been driving for twelve years now."

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor said at the same time as Martha said, "What?"

"Yeah. Started out as newlyweds! Feels like yesterday."

"Feels like twelve years to me," Valerie sighed.

"Aw, Sweetheart, but you still love me," he teased her leaning over and tickling her sides. Valerie giggled.

"Twelve years! How far did you come? Where did you start?"

"Battery Park. It's five miles back."

"You travelled five miles in twelve years?" he cried. Considering the fact that he could travel light-years in a second, everything else felt rather slow… but that was just ridiculous!

"Bloody hell," Martha breathed.

"I think he's a bit slow," Brannigan said aside to Valerie as he put the kitten back down on its bed.

"Where are you from?" Valerie asked.

"Never mint that, I've got to get out," he said in a panic. "My Ro- … my friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. We should get back to the TARDIS." He pulled open the door, but there was nothing in front of him but smoke and empty – filthy - air.

"You're too late for that," Brannigan told him. "We've passed the lay-by.

"But we need the TARDIS to get to Rose!" Martha said.

"You're a passenger now, dear!"

"When's the next lay-by?" he asked urgently.

"Uh… six months?"

"Six months!" Martha cried in alarm. The Doctor growled in frustration.

Why did they always have to take her from him! No matter where they went it seemed like someone was always trying to break them apart. He was sick of it. Daleks, beasts, psychotic women wanting a body, werewolves, aliens living as a wavelength in TV's, Carrionites, lonely Isolus and child…

No! Two simple apes would not be the ones to finally take her from him just because he was stuck in traffic! She was his Rose and he would anything to get her back.


	19. Gridlock, Chasing Cars

**Chasing Cars**

.

.

Rose looked out the window up at the hundreds and hundreds of cars as they descended through he layers. She couldn't see many, but she had already seen that there were more than she could have imagined.

"How many cars are out there?" she asked.

"I don't think anyone knows," Cheen replied. "Here you go, hungry?" she held out some sort of wafer.

"Oh, thanks," she said taking it form her. She wasn't hungry at the moment, but she took it anyway. She began to wave it about nervously. She had no doubt the Doctor would come for her… she just didn't know how long that would take. "So, how far down is this fast lane?"

"Oh, its right at the bottom, underneath he traffic jam," Milo told her. "But not many people can afford three passengers, so it's empty down there. Rumour has it, you can reach up to thirty miles per hour!"

"Wow… that's _so_ fast," she said sarcastically. "That's just _crazy!_" Even her Mum could drive faster than that. And she trusted her mother's driving even less than she trusted the Doctors. "How are you meant to raise a kid here?" she asked. "It's tiny, and it can't be good for ya."

"Oh, we stocked up," Cheen said cheerfully. "Got self-replicating fuel, muscle stimulants for exercise, and there's a chemical toilet at the back. And all waste products are recycled as food."

"Okay…" Rose said disgustedly and dropped the wafer instantly, ever so thankful that she hadn't eaten any of it.

"Oh, another gap!" Milo suddenly cried. "This is brilliant! Car 4-6-5-Diamond-6, on decent to the fast lane, thank you very much," he said into a handheld transmitter.

Rose closed her eyes to block out the image on screen of the car going lower. She preyed that the Doctor would come soon.

**?...DW…?**

Pointing the sonic at the screen the Doctor called the most direct line to the NNYPD.

"I need to talk to the police," he said into the transmitter.

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold," stated an electronic voice.

"But you're the police!" he said incredulously. Police couldn't put you on hold!

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold," the electronic voice repeated.

"Is there anyone else you could call?" Martha said anxiously.

"Yes, I once met the Duke of Manhattan; is there any way of getting through to him?" the Doctor said making his way back up to the front.

"Oh, now ain't you lordly," Brannigan said sounding a bit snarky.

"I've got to find my friend!" he nearly shouted in desperation. "I need to get her back, now is there anyone else we can call!" Martha placed a hand on his arm to calm him. She had never seen him like this before. He was almost scary when Rose wasn't there… Well, she'd been around him without Rose, but when Rose had been taking from him…

"You can't make outside calls," Valerie told him sympathetically. "The motorway's completely enclosed."

"What about the other cars?" Martha suggested.

"We've got contact with them, yeah," Brannigan said, seemingly happy the Doctor was no longer shouting. "Well, some of them anyway. They've to be on your 'friends' list. Now let's see – Who's nearby? Ahh! The Cassini Sisters!" He picked up the transmitter and talked into it. "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Brannigan here!" he said cheekily.

"Get off the line Brannigan. You're a pest and a menace!" came the voce of one of the old ladies.

"Oh, come on now, sisters. Is that anyway to talk to an old friend?" Martha and Valerie smiled at each other, suppressing giggles.

"You know full well we're not sisters. We're married."

"Oooh, stop that modern talk! I'm an old-fashioned cat. Now, I've got a couple of hitchhikers here, one calls himself the Doctor-"

The Doctor snatched the transmitter from his hand. "Hello. Sorry," he said. "I'm looking for someone called Rose Tyler. She's been carjacked. She's inside one of these vehicles, but I don't know witch one."

"Wait a minute…" came another voice down the line. They heard the sound of rustling pages, then she spoke again. "Could I ask, what entrance did they use?"

"Where were we?" he asked aside to Brannigan.

"Pharmacy Town."

"Pharmacy Town, about twenty minutes ago," he repeated back.

"Let's have a look…" she said.

"Just my luck to marry a car-spotter," the first voice muttered. It really was _his_ luck though.

"In the last half hour, 53 new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction."

"Anything more specific?" he asked impatiently.

"All in good time," she replied, frustrating him further. "Was she carjacked by two people?"

"Yes. She was, yeah."

"There we are," she said happily. "Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And the car number is: 4-6-5-Diamond-6."

"That's it!" he cried. "So how do we find them?"

"Ah. Now there I'm afraid I can't help," the lady replied.

"Can we call them on that?" Martha asked. "You know their number now."

"Not if they're designated fast lane. It's a different class."

"You could try the police," the old lady suggested.

"They put me on hold," he said in annoyance.

"You'll have to keep trying. There's no one else."

"Thank you," he sighed, then handed the transmitter back to Brannigan. No way of communicating, no way of getting to them, no police, stuck in a traffic jam that had been going on at least 12 years… They really weren't making it easy were they!

**?...DW…?**

Rose looked forlornly down at the ground. She - quite ironically - was terrible with time, but she was sure that it had been well over half an hour now. She wished the Doctor would hurry up. And she hoped that nothing bad had happened to him.

He would have found her by now, right? It shouldn't take him much longer to get to her. But then again… what if something really bad was happening back where he was? It was just their luck. And it had happened a few times before…

And until he came there was nothing she could do but stay calm and wait.

"We're nearly there," Milo said, noticing how upset she was and tried to cheer her up. "See? Another ten layers to, and we're scorching!" This failed to cheer her up as it made her think of the fact that it was taking her even further away from the Doctor. But still she forced a smile for the couple. They really were quite sweet. They had just wanted a better life… How was that any different to her?

Suddenly the car shook slightly and there was a sort of growling, rumbling noise.

"What was that?" she said in quiet alarm. But Milo and Cheen looked just as panicked and nervous as she did. The sound came again, this time sounding more like a screech. Some sort of creature. "It's coming from underneath," she observed.

"It's that noise, isn't it?" Cheen said to Milo. "It's like Kate said… the stories they're true."

"What stories?" she asked, intrigued.

"It's the noise from the air vents. That's all," Milo said in exasperation. But she could see a small flicker of doubt in his eyes. "The exhaust fumes travel down, so at the base of the tunnel they've got air vents."

"No, but the stories are much better!" Cheen told her excitedly. Milo scoffed in exasperation, though a smile was plastered across his face. "They say people go missing on the motorway. Some cars just vanish, never to be seen again. 'Cause there's something living down there, in the smoke. Something huge, and hungry. And if you get lost on the road… it's waiting for you." As she spoke she had gone from excitement to worry. Now she was looking at Milo anxiously.

"Right," Rose said with a nervous smile, as the rumbling grew louder. "Monsters. Pretty much a normal day for me then."

"Like I said," Milo told them, no longer sounding so sure. "It's just air vents." He pushed a button on the dashboard. "Going down to the next layer."

"Milo, look out there," she said to him. "Look out at all of that smoke in front of you. Does it look like the air vents are working?"

"No," Cheen whispered. The sounds kept getting louder and louder.

"And there's no monsters, yeah? So what is that?" Neither of them had an answer for her.

"Nah," Milo shook it off. "Just kid's stuff." He picked up the transmitter again. " Car 4-6-5-Diamond-6, on decent."

And they went down lower. The noises getting louder as they got closer and closer to something that Rose knew just wasn't good…

**?...DW…?**

Martha hated seeing the Doctor like this. He was so frantic. She had only just met him, but she had always seen him as confident. He was still just as confident, but she could see something in him she'd never seen before… fear. He was scared.

"Hold on," she said. "Are you allowed over three passengers in the fast lane?"

"Yes, don't know why you'd want more than three, though. It's hard enough with just two."

"And a litter," Valerie added.

"Well can't you take us down? You've got over three passengers."

"Not in a million years," Brannigan told them.

"But I need to get to her now!" the Doctor cried.

"I'm still not going."

"She is alone!" he snarled. "And she's lost. She's tough, but I know she'll be scared. She doesn't even belong on this planet, she belongs with me! Now I'm asking you, Brannigan – Take me down."

"NO! And that's final," Valerie told him firmly. "I'm not risking the children down there."

"Why not? What's the risk? What happens down there?" he said beginning to panic again.

"We're not discussing it," she cried. "The conversation is closed!"

"What, so we keep driving?" Martha asked with a hint on disgust in her voice.

"Yes, we do," Brannigan said sourly.

"For how long?" the Doctor cried.

"Till the journey's end."

The Doctor reached over him and snatched up the transmitter. "Mrs. Cassini," he said. "This is the Doctor. Tell me, how long have you been driving on the motorway?"

"Oh, we were among the first. It's been twenty-three years now."

"What!" Martha nearly shouted.

"And in all that time, have you ever _seen_ a police car?" he continued. At that Brannigan and Valerie looked up at him in trepidation. There was fear and unease in their eyes. on the end of the line both sisters fell quiet.

"I-I'm not sure," the car-spotter finally said.

"Look at your notes. Any police?"

"Not as such," she said sounding slightly upset.

"Or an ambulance? Rescue service? Anything official? _Ever?_"

"I cant keep a note of everything!" there was a small click and he knew she had put her transmitter down. but that didn't stop him from going on.

"What if there's no one out there?" he said looking directly and meaningfully at Brannigan. He knew that they all knew it.

"Stop it!" Brannigan snatched the transmitter off him. "The Cassini's were doing you a favour!" he said angrily.

"Someone's got to ask," he said harshly. "'Cause you might not talk about it, but it's there, in your eyes… What if the traffic jam never stops?"

"There's a whole city above us," Brannigan said defensively. "The mighty city-state of New, New York. They wouldn't just leave us."

"In that case, where are they? Hmm?" He knew he was scaring them, he knew he was bringing up some of their deepest buried fears. But right now he really didn't care. They needed to open their eyes to what was wrong. And he needed to get to Rose, right now. "What it there's no help coming, not ever? What if there's nothing? Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round… never stopping? Forever!"

"Shut up!" Valerie shouted before he could say anything more. "Just shut up!"

.

Right then, before another word could be spoken by anyone, the screen in the car came to life and they saw the same news woman as before.

"This is Sally Calypso," the presenter said in that annoying false happy voice. "And it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation."

"You think you know us so well, Doctor," Brannigan said quietly. "But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other."

"This is for all of you out there on the roads," Sally Calypso went on. "We're so sorry. Drive safely."

"Why is she sorry?" Martha said quietly.

But she soon forgot all about that question as a melody floated up to them. It became clearer as thousands and millions of voices all merged together to create a beautiful united, loving choir.

The song brought tears to her eyes as Brannigan and Valerie began to sing. Before she realised it, she had joined in too, with the sweet, sad song.

.

_On a hill, far away  
>Stood an old rugged cross<br>the emblem of suffering and shame  
>And I love that old cross<br>Where the dearest and best  
>For a world of lost sinners was slain<br>So I'll cherish the old rugged cross  
>Till my trophies at last I lay down<br>I will cling to the old rugged cross  
>And exchange it some day for a crown…<em>

.

Somewhere levels and miles below and away from the Doctor, Rose sat in the car behind Milo and Cheen. Tears ran down her face as she listened to an entire city of people sing their faith.

"Fast lane access," an electronic voce suddenly said. "Please drive safe."

"We made it," Milo said happily. "The fast lane." The hope that lit up his face bought fresh tears to Rose's eyes. She still had the echo of the hymn drifting through her head.

The song was their hope, their faith and their bond. These people had their songs… she had the Doctor.


	20. Gridlock, Macra

**Macra**

.

.

The Doctor stood in the middle of the car. He couldn't take it anymore. This was Rose! He couldn't just sit in a car for six months so he could finally get to the TARDIS to _finally_ save her. He needed her now!

"If you won't take me, I'll go down on my own," he snapped. He scrambled down to the floor where there was a hatch. "Oh, Martha, staying or coming with me? It will be more dangerous, but-"

"Oh, I'm going with you," she cut him off.

"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan asked, sounding worried. Both he and Valerie were looking at him in shock.

"Fining my own way," he told them as he sonic-ed the hatch and pulled it off. "I usually do."

"Capsule open," said the automated voice.

"Here we go," he said a bit more bouncily. He took off his coat and threw it at a panicked looking Valerie. "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat…"

"But you can't jump!" she cried at him.

"If it's any consolation Valerie, right now, I'm having kittens."

"This Rose, you must really care about her," Brannigan said.

"More than anything," he said aloud before he realised he had. "She's all I've got, and I'm all she has. It's like the universe keeps trying to split us up. But I swear, I'll die before I let that happen!" With that he dropped down the hatch and landed on the roof of the car below.

"And he say's they're just friends," Martha muttered before dropping out after him.

.

Coughing from the fumes, he opened the roof of they car they had landed inside. Then he turned back and caught Martha as she dropped in behind him. The interior of this car was completely white… as was the man at the wheel.

"Who the hell are you?" the white man asked.

"Sorry," he replied. "Motorway Foot Patrol. I'm doing a survey. How are you enjoying your motorway?" he went over to where the floor hatch was and opened it as the man talked.

"Well, not very much," the white man told him. "Junction five's been closed for three years!"

"Thank you. Your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!" The he swung down and waited for the next car to stop under him until he jumped. Martha landed beside him.

They carried on much this way for ages. Breaking into each car and going through it. They came upon many eccentric people on their travels. Sick of the smoke they procured some bandannas to cover their mouths, from a pair of stunned Asian girls. At some point they lost all pretences and excuses and just dropped in and jumped out. Making their way down the levels towards Rose.

**?...DW…?**

"Try again," Cheen told Milo, panic creeping into her voice. Milo pressed the 'Exit 1' button and the computer stated that it was closed. "Try the next one." He pressed 'Exit 2', but yet again the computer told them it was closed. "What do we do?" she moaned in anguish.

"We'll keep going round," Milo told her calmly. "We'll do the whole loop. By the time we come back around, they'll be open."

The rumbling noise came again, much louder, and the car shook. The three of them looked about in panic.

"And you're still calling that air vents?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"What else could it be," he said in a hushed tone. The car shook again more violently.

"What the hell is that?" Cheen cried in distress.

"It's just – the hydraulics…"

"It sounds like it's alive," Rose told them.

"It's all exhaust fumes out there. Nothing could breathe in that."

"Yeah, and what if it's not human?" she countered.

.

"Calling car 4-5-6-Diamond-6. Repeat, calling car 4-5-6-Diamond-6!" came an urgent voice over the transmitter.

"This is 4-5-6-Diamond-6," Milo said replying immediately. "Who's that? Where are you?"

"I'm in the fast lane," the woman replied. "About fifty yards behind. Can you get back up? Can you get off the fast lane?" they could hear crashing inside her vehicle.

"We only have permission to go down," Milo told her. "We-we need the Brooklyn Flyover."

"It's closed. Go back up."

"We can't. Well just go around."

"Don't you understand?" she shouted. "They're closed. They're always closed!" Cheen gasped in terror and clapped her hand over her mouth. Rose was slowly starting to see what was happening. Why the traffic jam was so big. No one could leave. "We're stuck down here," the woman continued. And there's something else. Out there, in the fog. Can't you hear it?"

"That's the air vents," he said, still clearly in denial.

"Jehovah! What are you, some stupid kid?" she shrieked. "Get out of here!" In the background there were more growls and crashing. Some girls screamed. The three people in the car looked at each other in fright. Cheen was down right panicking.

"What was that?" Milo asked them. There were more screams.

"I can't move!" the woman shouted, fear evident in her voice. "They've got us!"

"But what's happening-?" Sick of Milo's denial and stupid questions, Rose snatched the transmitter off him.

"What's got you?" she asked. "What is it?"

"I don't know…" she shouted back. There were loud bangs and crashes. The growling was louder than ever and the girls in the car were still screaming.

"Hello?" he said worryingly.

"Just drive, you idiots!" she shrieked as her car was battered about. "Get out of here! Get out!" Then all they could hear was static.

"Can you hear me? Hello?" Milo yelled into the transmitter.

"Just drive!" Rose told him. "Do what she said, get us out of here!"

"But where?"

"Just go straight ahead! And fast!"

"What is it?" Cheen sobbed in fear. "What's out there? What's happening?"

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor and Martha dropped onto the next car. The smoke was so thick down here that they couldn't see anything below it. His hopes rose that perhaps this was the last layer. Martha, even with the scarf, was coughing so hard, he didn't know how much more of it she could take. He could barely stand it as it was.

Quick as he could he took the hatch off and dropped in. Martha jumped in and sagged to the floor coughing.

"Excuse me, is that legal?" came a posh voice. Up the front of the car the driver, a smart looking businessman, sat up and looked at them doubtfully.

"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol…" suddenly he two was wracked with another coughing fit. "What ever," he said throwing away all pretences. "Have you got any water?"

"Certainly," said the Businessman. "Never let it said I've lost my manners." He reached over and filled up two of those cool cone shaped plastic cups for them and handed them over.

"Thank you!" Martha gasped, drinking gratefully.

"Is this the last layer?" he asked. "Like your suit by the way." Martha laughed seeing the Businessman's suit was a black pinstripe.

"Erm, Thank you," he said somewhat awkwardly. "Yes, we're right at the bottom. Nothing below us but the fast lane."

"Can we got down?" the Doctor asked. "There's three passengers."

"I-I'd rather not," he stuttered. The Doctor tried to push down his fear. Valerie had said something about risks… And now this man was too scared to go down.

"Right," he said. "If you'll excuse me." He made his way to the floor hatch and opened it.

"You can't jump," the man exclaimed. "It's a thousand feet down!"

"I just want to look," he said. Martha joined him.

"What's that noise?" she said as growling sounds floated up to them.

"I try not to think about it," the Businessman repressed a shudder.

"What are those lights?" he wondered. "What's down there." he coughed and waved away some smoke. "I just need to see!" Leaving Martha by the hatch, he ran to the front of the car and held the sonic to the screen. "There must be some sort of ventilation," he said to himself. "If I could just transmit a pulse through this thing, maybe I could trip the system. Give us a bit of a breeze!" He opened the bottom of the screen, exposing the wires and played around a bit. He snapped one of the blue wires and a whirring noise started up. "That's it!" he cried in delight. "Might shift the fumes a bit, give us a look." Both he and the Businessman joined Martha back at the hatch and the three of them looked out into the clearing smoke.

"What are those shapes?" Martha said as huge claw like things emerged.

"They're alive," the Doctor said.

"What the hell are they?" Martha cried in horror, finally seeing that the claws were attached to some sort of giant crab… much bigger than the cars at any rate!

"Macra," he said with a hard voice. This was not good.

**?...DW…?**

The car jolted around harshly, throwing Rose to the ground.

"Go faster!" Cheen cried over the noise.

"I'm at top speed!" Milo shouted back. He drove the car in a zigzag, narrowly avoiding what appeared to be claws. He frantically pushed the screen trying to get up to the next layer. But it only told them that there was no access. "But this is an emergency!" he yelled into the transmitter. He tried calling the police, but was placed on hold. Another crash jerked the car and they were all thrown tot the ground.

"Turn everything off!" Rose shouted at him.

"You've got to be joking!" he cried.

"I'm not!" she said. "Look, it's all fog out there, they wont be able to see. They must be able to hear us, or it's the heat, or light or – something! I don't know, but it's worth a try. Now turn everything off. They might not be able to find us."

"What if you're wrong," he said.

"The does it really make a difference! Just do it!" He gave a stiff nod and started flicking buttons. The car slowly powered down and he glided them onto the ground. The three of them sat, unmoving, just waiting for something to happen. But the creatures stopped trying to grab at them, and the noise quietened ever so slightly.

"They've stopped," Cheen whispered.

"Yeah, but they're still out there," Milo said pessimistically. They looked around nervously.

"How did you think of that?" Cheen said trying to distract herself.

"We travel a lot," she said. "And we run into dangers quite often… you really have to think on your feet. And you have to think of everything. I guess I'm just used to it. Only problem is, I'm not sure what we do now."

"Well, you better think of something," Milo told her. "Because we've lost the aircon. If we don't switch the engines back on, we won't be able to breathe."

"How long have we got?" he asked.

"Eight minutes, maximum," he said quietly.

Right… eight minutes… she could think of something in eight minutes, couldn't she? Oh, she wished the Doctor were here!

**?...DW…?**

Back in the Businessman's car the doctor, Martha and the Businessman sat staring down at the Macra

"The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy," he told them. "Gas. They fed on gas. The filthier, the better. They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food."

"They don't exactly look like empire-builders to me," the Businessman said.

"Mmm, more like a weeks worth of dinner at a seafood buffet," Martha added.

"Well, that was billions of years ago," he said. "Billons. They must have devolved down the years, and now they're just beasts. But they're still hungry and my friend is down there."

There was a clank above them and they all looked up to see someone's feet dangling through the roof.

"Oh, it's like New Times Square in here, for goodness sake!" the Businessman cried in annoyance. The woman dropped down and they saw it was one of the Catkind.

"I've invented a sport!" the Doctor said delightedly.

"Doctor," the cat said happily. "You're a hard man to find."

Then the business man seemed to notice that she was holding a gun. "No guns!" he cried. "I'm not having guns!"

"I only brought this in case of pirates," she defended. "Doctor, you've got to come with me."

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"Yo haven't aged at all," she said in wonder. "Time has been less kind to me." She looked down shyly. The Doctor recognised her voice and suddenly he grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Novice Hame!" he exclaimed then hugged her, a huge smile on his face. Then the smile melted and he pushed her back. "No, hold on, get off. Last time we met, you were breeding humans for experimentation!"

"What?" Martha cried in shock. The Businessman looked appalled.

"I've sought forgiveness, Doctor," she said. "For so many years, under his guidance. And if you come with me, I might finally be able to redeem myself."

"I'm not going anywhere," he replied. "You've got Macra living under this cit. Macra! And if my friend's still alive," he tried not to think about Rose's mangled body lying somewhere inside a crushed car in the claws of a Marca. "If she's still alive, she's stuck down there!"

"You've got to come with me right now!"

"No! I've got to find Rose!"

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But the situation is even worse than you can imagine." Quickly she took his wrist and pressed a green button on her wristband. "Transport," she said.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" he cried in alarm, but it was too late.


	21. Gridlock, The Death of Boe

**The Death of Boe**

.

.

Groaning he picked himself off the floor. They were in some dirty run down building.

"Rough teleport… Ow!" he growled. "Great!" he said angrily. "Now I have two friends stuck down there! But you can go straight back down and teleport people out. Starting with Rose and Martha!"

"I only had the power for one trip," she told him, trying to keep him calm.

"Then get some more! Where are we?"

"High above, in the Over-city."

"Good!" he snapped. "Because you can tell the Senate of New, New York: I'd like a word. They've got thousands of people trapped on the motorway! Millions!"

"But you're inside the Senate, right now," she said quietly. "May the Goddess Santori bless them." She pressed something on her wristband and the hall was lit up. Around them were rows and rows of skeletons. He stared about in sympathy and sadness. "They died, Doctor," she said softly. "The city died."

"How long has it been like this?" All of his previous anger was completely gone.

"Twenty-four years," she said as they walked over to a small raised area where a partly mummified skeleton lay on the ground. He kneeled down next to it, his eyes filled with profound sorrow and despair.

"All of them?" he said in quiet disbelief. "Everyone? What happened?"

"A new chemical. A new mood. They called it Bliss." She bent down and picked a 'Bliss' patch of the skeleton in front of her. "Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished – even the virus in the end… It killed the world in seven minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the Under-city. Those people on the motorway aren't lost, Doctor. They were saved."

"So the whole thing down there is running on automatic?"

"There's not enough power to get them out," she told him. "We did all we could to stop the system from choking."

"Who's 'we'? How did you survive?"

"He protected me," she said, her spirits brightening ever so slightly. "And he has waited for you these long years."

.

"Doctor," came a low rumbling voice inside his head. His face lit up with recognition. He ran around the corner.

"The Face of Boe!" he said happily. The Face of Boe was in his glass, breathing his smoke in deeply. He seemed to be hooked up to the computers. He ran right up to the glass and knelt down in front of him. Hame followed close behind.

"I knew you would come," his deep voice hummed in the Doctor's head.

"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse, as penance for my sins," Hame told him quietly, bowing her head.

"Old friend," he murmured. "What happened to you?"

"A failing," Boe replied mournfully.

"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke," Hame said. "But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The Under-city would have fallen into the sea."

"So he saved them."

"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He's giving his life force just to keep things running."

"But there are planets out there," he said. "You could have called for help."

Hame shook her head sadly. "The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years."

"So the two of you stayed here," he said gently, getting up and going to her. "On your own, for all these years." He found all his anger and dislike towards her vanish in that instant. What she had done was so selfless and so loving. She had stayed to look after not only the Face of Boe, but every human left on New Earth.

"We had no choice," she told him.

"Yes, you did," he said kindly, taking her hands in his.

.

"Save them, Doctor," Boe pleaded. "Save them."

**?...DW…?**

"How much air is left?" Cheen asked quietly. It was getting very hot in the car and it was already hard to breathe.

"Two minutes," Milo replied just as quietly.

"Well, there's always the Doctor," Rose said. "That friend of mine. He'll think of something."

"Rose, no one's coming," Milo told her.

"He's coming," she said adamantly. Tears sprung to her eyes.

"He looked kind of nice," Cheen said comfortingly.

"He's more than nice!" she said. "He's fantastic… and a little bit foxy." She giggled to herself.

"Are you and him…?"

"Oh no, no, no. We kind of live together, but we're just friends. We've been travelling together for over two years. Sometimes we pick up some friends every now and then. But it's always me and him. We look after one another. We're all each other have."

"That sounds like a little more than friends."

"If only," she mumbled, then hopped neither of them had heard her. She couldn't believe she'd said that out loud.

"I never even asked," Cheen said. "Where's home?"

"It used to be very, very far away," Rose smiled. "But I started travelling and now home is everywhere… Home is sitting back in an ally in Pharmacy Town." Then before the thought had even formed in her head she said, "Actually, home is probably chasing after me as fast as he can."

Milo and Cheen smiled at each other knowingly. "So, um, who is he then? This Doctor?"

"Just a traveller," she replied, a smile on her face. "But he is brilliant. He has saved so many world so many times, and has never even once asked for a thank you. He just loves the adventure and helping people. He's kind, and curious, and funny. He brightens the world of whoever's life he touches. He teaches them a better way…"

"He sounds like more than just a traveller."

"No he is. He's just a madman with a blue box… and me. That's all he has. And we're going to keep it that way. I won't let him lose anything else. To you he may just be a stranger, but you haven't seen the things he can do. But he'll get us out of here, just you wait. Because you've got your faith, your songs and hymns. And I've got the Doctor. If there's anything I believe in, it's him."

.

"Right," Milo said. He reached up and turned the engines back on. He took Cheen's hand for a moment. "Good luck," he said to Rose.

"And to you," she said. Then he flew the car up and they began the frantic rollercoaster ride of dodging the creatures.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor was looking at the schematics of the motorway when suddenly dot representing a car appeared out of nowhere in the fast lane. His face lit up and his hopes flared when he saw the number.

"Car 4-6-5-Diamond-6, it still registers! That's Rose!" he cried in delight. "Oh she is brilliant!" He had to get Rose out of there. But he knew how he could save her and the rest of the city. "Novice Hame, hold that in place," he said getting her to hold a cable. "Think, think, think," he muttered tossing around cables and flicking switches. "Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity beds."

"There isn't enough power," Hame told him.

"Ah, you've got power! You've got me! I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch. Hame, every switch on that bank up to maximum!" he continued to run around tweaking switches and screens, using the sonic-screwdriver where necessary. "I can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people."

"So what are you going to do?" she asked as he ran back over to one wall.

"This!" he cried pulling a leaver. But suddenly all the computers powered down. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" He ran back to his spot on the floor and used the sonic. He had cables looped around his shoulders and was working frantically. He knew that Rose wouldn't have long if the car was back on. "The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through."

"Doctor…" Boe tried to say.

"Yeah, hold on, not now," he brushed him off, still frantically trying to fix things.

"I give you my last…" his words were cut off as the Face of Boe gave his life force to keep the power running. Every computer switched back on and the power came back. The Doctor's face lit up, despite the fact Boe was now in very bad shape.

"Hame, look after him," he ordered, jumping up and ran to the leaver again. "Don't you go dying on me, you big old face! You've got to see this." Then he threw the switch. "The open road. Ha!" Seeing a camera and a transmitter he ran over to that. "Is this where Sally Calypso broadcasted from?"

"Yes, but she was just a recording, a hologram," Hame said as she attended to Boe.

.

He used the sonic-screwdriver to get it going and smiled when a light showed him broadcasting. "Sorry," he said to everyone on the motorway. "No Sally Calypso, she was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor. And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you, the whole Under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up!" he cried getting happier by the moment as he saw cars starting to emerge into the city, through the window. "We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oi! Car 4-6-5-Diamond-6! Rose! Drive up! And Martha, can you reach me? What car are you in? Get up here, both of you!"

"Did I tell you, Doctor? You're not bad, sir. You're not bad at all!" Brannigan cried happily down the line. The Doctor grinned.

"You keep driving, Brannigan, all the way up" he said happily, going over to look out the window. "'Cause it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New, New York. And it's yours." He watched in delight as billions of cars drove out off the motorway. "And don't forget, I want that coat back."

"I recon that's a fair bargain, sir."

"Doctor!" Martha's voice cut in. "You did it!" she cried delightedly. "I'm in car 4-3-Triangle-9-7. We're out in the open."

"Yes!" he said. But there was still one part of him filled with dread. He still hadn't heard from Rose. Had she gotten out okay?

.

"Doctor!" Suddenly her relieved cry came across.

"Rose! Ha, ha! Yes! Alright, car 4-6-5-Diamond-6, and car 4-3-Triangle-9-7, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate."

"I'm on my way." He could practically see her beautiful grin from here. He couldn't wait to feel her in his arms again and know that she was finally safe and home.

"It's been a while since I saw you, Rose Tyler," he said affectionately.

"You cant live without me, can you?" she said.

"Doctor!" Novice Hame cried before he could reply. He looked over, and in horror saw that the Face of Boe's glass was cracking. His face fell.

**?...DW…?**

Rose hugged Cheen and Milo goodbye and wished them Good luck. They had been through an awful lot together in the last few hours. And they really were sweet. She had been scared they weren't going to make it for a moment, back when they had been caught by one of the crab creatures.

Walking up into the Senate, she saw Martha already there, making her way up.

"Martha! She cried. Martha turned and her face lit up in relief.

"Rose!" then the two women ran to each other and embraced. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'm great now-" she stopped dead when they entered the main chamber. Everywhere they looked, skeletons sat. There was even one lying, twisted, on the floor before them.

"Doctor?" Martha said quietly.

"Over here," his voice came from not too far away.

"What happened out there?" she asked as they ran around the corner. But she still had a smile on her face.

Rose was grinning ear to ear. She couldn't wait to wrap her arms around the Doctor, knowing she was back home again. But the sight before her made her face fall. The Doctor was kneeling on the ground with an older looking Novice Hame, in front of the Face of Boe. His glass encasing was shattered and he did not look well at all.

"Oh, Boe," Rose cried running over to him.

"What's that?" Martha said wearily, still standing back at the doorway.

"It's the Face of Boe," the Doctor told her. "It's alright. Come and say hello." Slowly Martha made her way over to them and knelt down. "And this is Hame. She's a cat, like Brannigan. It was Boe that saved you Rose, not me."

"My Lord gave his life to save the city," Hame said mournfully. "And now he is dying."

"Don't say that," the Doctor told her.

"Come on Boe," Rose begged. "That's the second time you've saved my life. You can't die now." She knew it wasn't directly him, but she still counted that question about him when she was on the Weakest Link on Satellite 5.

"Many more times than that," Boe's raspy laugh sounded in her head. "Rose Tyler, Just as beautiful as the night I first saw you. Big Ben glowing in the fire light."

"What?" she laughed. "That wasn't the first time we met." By the look the Doctor gave her she knew she was the only one who could hear him.

"You may have met me on Platform 1, but where I met you is a different matter."

"So we've met before… or well… I'll see you again?"

"Both, my dear friend. And Rose, I'm sorry for the pain you must suffer…"

"What – what are you talking about?" she said fearfully. She didn't like the sound of that. And yet oddly his ominous words gave her a sense of anticipation.

"It's good to breath the air once more," he rasped. This time Rose knew that everyone could hear him.

"Who is he?" Martha asked.

"I don't even know," the Doctor said looking up at her, sad wonder on his face. "Legend says the Face of Boe had lived for billions of years. Isn't that right?" he asked Boe. "And you're not about to give up now."

"Everything has it's time," he replied, reminding him of something Sarah Jane once said. "You know that, old friend, better than most."

"The legend says more," Hame prompted.

"Don't," he said, his voice a little harder. "There's no need for that." Boe could make it. He didn't want to know the secret if it meant his life was coming to a close.

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller."

"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" he said trying to get her to stop. Rose placed her hand over his and he twined his fingers through hers.

"I have seen so much," Boe gasped. "Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind. As you are the last of yours, Doctor."

Rose squeezed his had tighter. "That's why we have to survive," he said, his voice straining as if he were holding back tears. "Both of us. Don't go."

"I must," Boe said. "But know this, Time lord. You are not alone." With these last words, he opened his mouth to speak them, rather than in their heads. Slowly his eyes closed and he let out his last breath.

The Doctor, who had been on the verge of tears, now sat staring uncomprehendingly at the Face of Boe. What could he have meant? There was no way there could be anyone else out there. He would know. Still in shock he stood, helping up Rose who had silent tears running down her face. He held her to him. Not quite the reunion hug they had wanted, but it was what they both needed.

Beside them Hame began to sob. There was nothing they could do for her. And there was nothing they could say.

**?...DW…?**

Much later, after talking with Hame about what she could do to help the city. And after the Doctor had his coat back from Brannigan, they walked back through the alleys of the Under-city towards the TARDIS. He hadn't let go of Rose's hand since she had taken it once again after they had embraced. He didn't want to let it go.

As they walked into the alley with the pharmacy stalls he noticed how abandoned it looked. All the stalls had signs saying 'Closed until further notice'.

"All closed down," he said brightly.

"Happy?" Martha asked, smiling.

"Happy-Happy," he joked. "New, New York can start again," he said in the same bright tone as he swung Rose's arm. "And they've got Novice Hame… Just what every city needs – Cats in charge!" Laughing Rose bumped into him playfully. "Come on," he said. "Time we were off." They began to walk off, but Martha had stayed put.

"But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?" she asked. They stopped and turned around. "You are not alone."

"I don't know."

"You've got us," she suggested. "Is that what he meant?"

The Doctor shook his head in amusement. "As nice a thought as that is, no. I don't think so. Sorry."

"Then what?"

"Doesn't matter," he said, brushing it off. "Back to the TARDIS. Off we go." He and Rose turned and started walking again. Seeing the look on Rose's face he became concerned. He remembered the fear in her voice when she had tried to ask Boe what he had meant. He wished he could have heard what was said. "Are you alright?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied quietly. "You?"

"I'm fine," he told her. They looked at each other and smiled sadly. They both knew the other was lying. So they gave a reassuring squeeze. Then, suddenly they noticed that Martha hadn't moved and they turned back yet again. She was sitting on a chair she had pulled from the gound. She was sitting with her arms folded, looking very stubborn. "Alright, you staying?" he called back.

"Until you talk to me properly, yes," she said moodily. "He said 'last of your kind'. What does that mean?"

"It really doesn't matter," he said, failing to appear flippant.

"You don't talk," she said in annoyance. "You never say! Why not?" Around them the sound of the city singing rose up. Martha looked about in wonder, captivated by the beauty of such faith. "It's the city," she whispered. "They're singing."

.

The Doctor looked down at Rose; she was looking up at him sympathetically. She brought his hand up to hers so his was encased within them. He could feel her giving him the strength to say what pained him so. But still it was hard, he stood there for a moment longer, searching for the words.

"I lied to you," he finally said, tears coming to his eyes. "I lied, because I liked it. I could pretend. Just for a bit I could imagine they were still alive. Underneath a burnt orange sky." His hearts ached seeing the shock and sympathy spread across Martha's face. "I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."

"What happened?" she said.

Slowly, with Rose at his side, he waked back over to Martha and picked up a chair for them both. Sitting down he took a deep breath. He had ever told anyone the full story before. Even Rose only knew bit's and pieces.

"There was a war," he started looking her in the eyes. "A Time War. The last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even that sky." Tears came to his eyes and he looked off distantly, seeing a long dead world before him. "Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song…"

.

Rose and Martha listened in absolute enthralment as he told them of Gallifrey. At many moments he had nearly burst into tears. But Rose never let go of his hand. And he knew, that no matter what he would face, and no matter what he had lost. He would always have her.

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* * *

><p><em><strong>I couldn't help it! I mean, it's Jack. I've always just seen Jack flirting on his death bed! And the Rose plot thickens! Dun-dun-daaa!<strong>_

_**And coming up in the next few days we have 'Daleks in Manhattan!' They really must have liked New York for that section.**_

_**Anyway! Reviews please! I LOVE reviews! The more the better. Tell me what you think of the Rose plot, and If you have any ideas I'll see if I can squeeze them in!**_


	22. Daleks in Manhattan, Hooverville

_**New York, New York! We just can't get enough of it!**_

_**Yip so here we are. Now up to part 6. I'm really having fun with this. And some of you who are lucky enough to have seen the deleted scenes will know that I've added a few in already. And there are still more to come.**_

_**Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! They quite literally leave a huge smile on my face all day. – Someone at work even asked me if I got laid!**_

_**Anyway, Enjoy!**_

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***Daleks in Manhattan***

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**Hooverville**

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Rose had begged him yet again to take Martha on another 'detour' trip, since their last one had been ruined by her kidnapping. He had ooh-ed and ah-ed, pretending that it was a hard decision. He wanted to take Martha on more trips anyway… he just wanted to see that adorable look on Rose's face a little more. Rose, knowing him so well, most likely knew that he was making a show of it. Though she probably thought it was more at Martha's expense.

He smiled as he placed in the co-ordinates for New York… the original Earth one this time. He didn't know why, he just seemed to be in a New York phase. He didn't really care when, just as long as he landed outside the Statue of Liberty. He loved that funny green lady. She was huge and green and looked like a human! …Well, actually, that sounded a bit like the Azradonians. Either way, the Statue of Liberty was brilliant. And he remembered Rose had mentioned wanting to see her, once.

Soon the TARDIS had materialised and they were stepping out into the crisp, cool New York air.

"Where are we?" Martha asked him.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze," he said exuberantly. "Nice and cold. Lovely. Rose, Martha, have you met my friend?" They all looked right up towards the Statue of Liberty and the girls gasped in delight. "No, really," he said. "The model was a friend of mine. Good old Charlotte Bartholdi."

"Is that-?" Martha gasped. "Oh my god! That's the Statue of Liberty!"

"You've really got a thing for New York at the moment don't you?" Rose laughed.

"So what if I do?" he shrugged happily. "Besides, you did say you wanted to see 'her'. Gateway to the New World. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…'" he quoted.

"That's so brilliant!" Martha cried, already starting to pick up on his speech patterns, much like Rose had. "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the New, new, new, new, new…"

"New, new, new, new…" Rose carried on. Soon the two girls were in fits of laugher as they tried to guess how many 'news' they had done. He found himself grinning ear to ear. It was nice to see them laughing like that together… plus they had gone over fifteen about thirty seconds ago.

He led the two giggling girls to the edge of the island where they looked out over Manhattan. "Well, there's the genuine article," he told them. "So good, they named it twice, right Rose?" he winked. "Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

Absentmindedly Rose started to hum 'New York, New York' as she looked about and started to wonder a little. She knew the Doctor hated her wondering, but she wasn't planning on going far.

"I wonder what year it is? 'Cause look," Martha said pointing over to the city, "the Empire State Building's not even finished yet."

"Work in progress," he said. "Still got a couple of floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around-"

"November first, 1930," Rose cut him off. She barely even realized the words had just left her mouth. She had no idea where they had come from. It was almost as if she knew… Seeing a news paper left on the seat beside her she picked it up to look at the date. She was astounded that she had been correct.

"You're getting very good at this," he said turning, and then he noticed the news paper. He no doubt believed that she had just read it off the paper… perhaps it was better that way. There was no point in getting him panicked over nothing.

"Eighty years ago," Martha said looking at the paper as Rose handed it over to the Doctor. "It's funny 'cause you see all those old news reels in black and white like it's so faraway. But here we are. It's real, it's now!"

"Oh, 1930!" Rose sighed. "Blues and just that little bit of swing coming into things. Putting on the Ritz. Hell's Angels. Three little words. Those regular stage shows that you see in films!"

"Come on, you," Martha nudged him. "Where do we go first?"

"I think our detour just got longer," he told them showing them the headline.

"_Hooverville Mystery Deepens,"_ Rose read.

"What's Hooverville?"

**?...DW…?**

Together the three of them strolled through what Rose assumed was Central Park. It really was quite beautiful.

"Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the USA, came to power a year ago," the Doctor was telling them. "Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…"

"The wall Street Crash, yeah," Martha said. Rose wouldn't have known that one; she was never really one for the political and economic side of history. "When was that, 1929?"

"Yea. Whole economy wiped out over night. Thousands of people unemployed. Suddenly the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park."

"What?" Rose cried aghast. "They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" He raised his eyebrows in confirmation.

It was then that they came across a make shift gateway. The sign above them read 'Hooverville'. All around them were crudely pitched tents and small wooden… well, they could barely even be called cabins. Everywhere there were small fires burning and cold rugged looking people gathered around them for warmth. Many of them looked half starved and as if they hadn't changed in weeks. Rose's eyes filled with sadness and she had to work on keeping her mouth from falling open. She had never seen something quite so horrible. She had seen some pretty bad things in the last few years… but this was different.

"Ordinary people, lost their jobs," he said sadly. "Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."

Around them people gave them looks. It was as if upon seeing them that they knew they didn't belong there, with the rest of the unfortunate. Rose knew that these people thought they had come here as if it were some sort of tourist attraction. Or that they may have just come here themselves.

.

Up ahead they heard some shouting and they walked towards the squabble.

"You thievin' lowlife!" one man cried punching the other. Rose went to move forward to break them up – she hated fighting – but the Doctor held her back a second. He didn't want her to get in the way and get hurt. She had no idea how volatile some of these desperate people could be. "All morning, I waited in the bread line, for a single loaf!"

"I didn't touch it!" the other man shouted back.

"Cut that out!" called an older dark man. The two men continued to fight. "Cut that out! Right now!" he pulled the man apart.

"He stole my bread!" the first man shouted furiously.

"That's enough! Did you take it?" the older man, who was obviously in charge, asked.

"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy!" the alleged thief cried. The first man lunged at him and the man in charge held him back.

"That's enough!" he said starting to get angry. Around them, people started to gather. He turned to the 'thief'. "Now, think real careful before you lie to me," he said sternly.

"I'm starvin', Solomon," the thief wined. Solomon held out his hand and grudgingly the thief pulled a loaf of bread from under his coat and handed it over.

"We're all starvin'," Solomon said roughly, breaking the loaf in half. He handed one half to each man. "We all got families somewhere. _No_ stealin' and _no_ fightin'. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together! No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."

With a hard look at each other, the men parted ways. People slowly began to disperse.

The Doctor looked at Solomon. He liked him. In a different time and situation he probably would have made one hell of a president. He was good.

"Come on," he ushered the girls over to him. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here," he said catching Solomon as he was about to walk off.

"And, who might you be?" he asked.

"I'm Rose. Martha. And he's the Doctor," Rose said pointing to them each in turn.

"A doctor," Solomon scoffed. "Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer. But you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day!" he tried to warm his hands over the fire.

"How many people live here?"

"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are truly an equal society. Black, white, all the same, all starving. So you're welcome, all three of you." he looked them up and down a moment. "Though, I gotta say, you don't exactly look hungry."

"No," the Doctor said. "We're more… sort of visiting."

"Come to see the freak show?" he said coldly.

"That's not fair," Rose said. "We just came to help."

"Did you bring money? Food? Firewood?" he asked her.

"No," Martha said before anyone else could say anything.

"Then what kind of help did you bring?" he said harshly.

"Hold on, hold on, wait…" Rose said remembering something. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wallet and looked through it, her hand almost seemed to disappear through it.

"Where did you get that from?" the Doctor asked her. "And since when did you bother carrying a wallet?"

"Since last Christmas," she told him. "I didn't really want a repeat of the taxi fiasco or anything so I looked for a wallet in the wardrobe. Found this one. It's _pretty big_ if you know what I mean. And it was full with all kinds of money. It was kind of hard sorting it. –Oh, here we are. American, 1900's." She pulled a few hundred dollar bills from inside. A beetle that was considered very expensive in the Garrian Galaxy tried to hitch a ride out to freedom on her hand and she quickly put it back in the right compartment. She handed the notes to Solomon. "I would say 'Don't be greedy', but you seem like a very decent guy. These are your people, you look after them," she smiled.

"This has got to be about $900!" he said in disbelief. "I can't take this! You'll end up in here yourself."

"Oh, well be fine," the Doctor grinned at how sweet and kind and thoughtful… and smart Rose was. "And trust me, you might wanna take that. She doesn't take well to people not accepting gifts." This unfortunately he had learnt that through personal experience.

With a sideways look at Rose, Solomon smiled, nodded and pocketed the money. "Thank you," he said. "I'm afraid not many are as kind as you. Tell me Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain to me." He walked them over to a clear spot and pointed to the Empire State building. "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"

The three of them had no answers for him. And he walked away.

"That," he said hugging Rose to his side. "Was incredibly sweet." It really wasn't hard at all to see why he had fall-… decided to take her with him.

"Well, he needed it more than us. And we can always get more. When you need help, you need help," she looked down at the paper in his hand. "And these people _really_ need help. I couldn't just sit by."

"I know you couldn't," he smiled.

"Should we go ask him about the missing people now?" Martha suggested.

They made their way over to Solomon as he chucked an old pot of coffee out.

"So…" he held up the paper to Solomon. "Men are going missing. Is this true?" Solomon looked at him and took the paper.

"It's true alright. He pushed sight a flap of canvas and stepped inside his tent, then held it open for the other three to enter.

"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not lie anyone's keeping a register," the Doctor said as they sat down.

"This is different," Solomon held up the paper.

"In what way?" Rose asked.

"Someone takes them, at night," he replied after a long pause. "We hear something. Someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone. Like they vanish into thin air."

"And you think someone's taking them?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor," Solomon said. "When you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you go. Your knife, blanket, you take them with you. you don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."

"Have you been to the police?" Martha said in a low, concerned voice.

"Yeah, we tried that," he said dejectedly. "Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."

"So who's taking them?" Rose wondered aloud.

"And what for?" the Doctor added.

Just then a boy, about seventeen or nineteen, popped his head into the tent.

"Solomon!" he said in a strong Tennessee accent. "Solomon, Mr Diagoras is here." Quick as anything, Solomon got up and followed the boy out.

.

Up the front, at the gates, stood three well dressed men. The two on the sides were clearly just for show. The man who stood higher up in the middle called out and addressed the men.

"I need men," he called. "Volunteers. I got a little work for you, and you sure look like you could use the money."

"Yeah, and what is the money?" the boy asked as they walked up.

"A dollar a day," Mr Diagoras said, as if a dollar was more than reasonable. The men gathered around grumbled.

"What's the work?" Solomon called.

"A little trip to the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapse, needs cleaning and fixing. Any takers?" he asked after a short pause.

"Dollar a day, that's slave wage," Solomon told him. "Men don't always come back up, do they?" This got the Doctor's attention.

"Accidents happen," Diagoras said sounding far too cavalier.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked. "What sort of accidents?"

"You don't need the work? That's fine," Diagoras avoided the question. "Anyone else?" The Doctor raised his hand in the air. "Enough of the questions!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm volunteering," he grinned. "I'll go." In less than a second Rose's hand was in the air too. He wasn't going to go anywhere without her. And indeed he didn't want to. The Doctor looked at Martha, and with a grudging look, she slowly raised her hand in the air.

"I'll kill you for this," she hissed. He gave a small chuckle and looked at Rose. Rose who would follow him anywhere.

"Anyone else?"

The boy's hand flew up in a shot. Looking at the Doctor, Rose, Martha and the boy, Solomon slowly raised his hand after a pause.

When people started walking away it became clear that no one else was going with them.

**?...DW…?**

The six of them climbed down into the dark dank sewers. Rose crunched her nose and silently reminded herself that she'd been in worse.

"Turn left," Diagoras told them. "Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall's fight ahead of you. Can't miss it."

"And when do we get our dollar?" the boy, who's name was Frank, said somewhat sceptically.

"When you come back up."

"And if we don't come back up?" the Doctor said in a low voice. He was starting to sense what was going on here.

"Then I got no one to pay."

"Don't worry. We'll be back," Solomon warned him, shining the light in his eyes.

"Let's hope," Martha said dejectedly. Rose gave her a playful nudge to lighten her spirits. There was no point in being pessimistic. Everyone made their way down the tunnel, but she noticed that the Doctor was till standing there, staring Diagoras down. She stood at his side and stood taller. The look in her eyes was pure ice. She knew why the Doctor was so suspicious. She just got this very strong feeling from Diagoras, like he was going to be something very bad. Finally, he took her hand and they followed the others.

"We just gotta stick together," Frank was saying. "It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here." This sent a shiver down Rose's spine. Yes, yes you could hide an army in a place this big.

.

The team continued on in silence for a while. Solomon in the lead. The Doctor and Rose following close behind. Martha and Frank were bringing up the rear.

"So what about you, Frank?" Martha broke the silence, attempting at idle chit-chat. "You're not from these parts, are you?"

"Oh, you can talk!" he laughed. "No, no, I'm from Tennessee, born and bred."

"So, how come you're here?"

"Uh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in camp, younger than me. From all over; Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas… Solomon keeps a lookout for us." He smiled up at the man who he clearly saw as a farther figure. "So, what about you?" You're a long way from home."

"Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too," she told him.

"You stick with me, you'll be alright," he assured her.

.

"So, this Diagoras block," the Doctor said. "Who is he then?"

"A couple of months ago he was just another foreman," Solomon told him. "Now it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."

"How'd he manage that?" Rose asked, her curiosity rising.

"These are strange times. A man can go from being king of the hill to the lowest of the low over night. It's just for some folks it works the other way round."

But the Doctor was hardly listening anymore. His attention had been caught by something else. He stared down at the ground where he had focused his light.

"Whoa!" he said when they got closer and saw it was some sort of jellyfish like brain that was glowing a sickly green colour.

"What is that?" Rose asked in disgust, kneeling down beside it with the Doctor.

"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha asked joining them. Frank and Solomon just stood staring at it, Frank looking rather green himself.

A foul smell emanated from it. Both Rose and Martha found themselves gagging. "It's gone off, what ever it is," Rose gasped as they both covered their noses. The Doctor put on his brainy specks and carefully picked the slimy brain blob up.

"And you've got to pick it up," Martha sighed. He brought it up to his face and sniffed it, making Martha gag again.

"Oh, please don't lick it!" Rose cried seeing that look in his eyes. He looked up at her and laughed, a huge grin on his face.

"I don't lick _everything,_ Rose," he said still laughing. Rose raised her eyebrows and he laughed harder.

"You would have licked that goose looking thing back on Hurio if I hadn't stopped you!" Playfully he wiggled the green thing closer to her face. Giggling she fell backwards as she tried to avoid it.

"Okay, okay," he said settling down again. "Martha, can you shine your torch through it." Martha complied. "Composite organic matter… Medical opinion?"

"It's not human," she said. "I know that."

Rose looked at it closer. It reminded her of something. Something that gave her cold shudders of foreboding down her spine. Some kind of brain like blob… And was that meant to be an eye in the middle? What on Earth – or not Earth as the case may be – did it remind her of?

"No," he said almost gleefully. "It's not. And I'll tell you something else." He stood. "We must be at least half a mile in and I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you?" The others looked around, fear creeping into their eyes. "So why did Mr Diagoras send us down here?"

"Where are we now?" Martha asked. "What's up above?"

"Well…" he said cocking his head to the side for a second in some sort of shrug. "We're right underneath Manhattan." He looked up to the dirty dripping roof above him and everyone else followed suit. They were all eerily quiet. And silently he slipped his hand into Rose's, to comfort her… At least, that's what he told himself.


	23. Daleks in Manhattan, Showbiz

**Showbiz**

.

.

Now with a bit more urgency, the five of them made their way through the tunnels. Looking closely for any signs of a collapse. Eventually, they had to accept that the Doctor was right.

"We're way beyond half a mile," Solomon grumbled. "There's no collapse, nothing."

"So that Diagoras bloke was lying, yeah?" Rose said flatly, not at all surprised.

"Looks like it," the Doctor replied.

"So why did he want people to come down here?" Frank said. She saw the Doctor smile slightly, he liked it when people asked the right questions.

"Solomon," he said. "I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be quicker on my own." He tried as hard as he could not to look at Rose's pointed glare and he knew what was coming next. But just as she opened her mouth to argue, a strange squealing noise echoed though the tunnels.

"What the hell was that?" Solomon said in a low voice.

"Hello?" Frank shouted.

"Shh!" Martha hushed at the same time that Solomon whispered, "Frank!"

"What id it's one of the folk gone missing?" he protested. "You'd be scared, half-mad down here on your own."

"If they stayed down here, I don't think they're coming back," Rose said quietly.

"Do you think they're still alive?" the Doctor asked the two of them.

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here," he said. "Maybe they just got lost."

Around them came the echoing squeal again and they all turned, trying to pinpoint the direction.

"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that," Solomon said.

"Unless a pig got down here," Rose joked trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Sounds like there's more than one of 'em."

"This way," the Doctor nodded to a tunnel.

"No, that way," Solomon countered, his light shining down another.

As she looked around, Martha's torch fell upon a strange, hunched figure, huddled in the corner.

"Doctor…" she whispered fearfully. Slowly they all turned and pointed their torches at the creature.

"Who are you?" Solomon asked.

"Are you lost?" Frank asked, his voice shaking a little. "Can you understand me? I-I've been thinkin' about folk lost…"

"It's alight, Frank," the Doctor said, stopping him form moving forward. Frank was pretty freaked out, but he was being so brave. "Just stay back let me have a look." he turned towards the creature, making his way to it, and addressed it. "He's got a point though, my mate Frank," he started. "I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us." He squatted down and shone the light at it's face so he could see. "Oh, but what are you?" he said sympathetically. His voice sent shivers down Rose's spine. If he didn't know what it was…

"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked, trying to convince himself it was alright.

"No, it's real," the Doctor said sadly. Rose shuddered again. She knew that it meant it could only have been human. "I'm sorry," the Doctor said to it quietly. "Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Now who did this to you?"

He was so focused on the poor creature that he didn't notice she shadows creeping up on them.

"Doctor, I think you'd better get back here," Martha told him. More of the pig-men creatures had come into the passage, just in front of him.

"Doctor!" Rose said a little more urgently.

"Actually," she said standing and backing towards them. "Good point." Slowly the pig-men advanced on them.

"They're following you," Martha said, panic creeping into her voice.

"Yeah, I noticed, thanks." He slipped his hand into Rose's. "Right then, Rose, Martha, Frank, Solomon…"

"What?" Rose said, gripping his hand tightly as the pig-men continued to advance.

"Um, basically… _run!_" All five of them turned and fled down the tunnel, the pig-men hot in pursuit. They kept running down the tunnel, until they came to a turn off. Martha stopped dead, her hands in the air, and blocked their way.

"Where are we going?" she cried in panic.

"This way!" the Doctor cried, pushing past her and dragging Rose down the right hand tunnel. The further he could get Rose away from these things the better. The pig-men still followed. They kept running, right past a tunnel with… Wait! He ran back and looked down it.

"There's a ladder! Come on!" he cried, and pulled Rose towards it. Behind him the others followed. Letting go of Rose's hand he pulled out the sonic and had the top off the ladder in no time. In just a few seconds, he, Rose and Martha were in the room above. But Solomon and Frank weren't up yet.

"Frank! Frank!" Solomon called. He was soon up the ladder. Then a few seconds later Frank was climbing the ladder. But so were the pig-men. "Come on, Frank!"

"Come on!" the Doctor cried as they put down their hands to help him up. The shouted as the pig-men surrounded him and tried to pull him down. They tried to hold on as tight as they could. But the two of them only had his hands, and the many pig-men had his whole body. And he was ripped from them.

"Frank!" Solomon cried.

"No!" the Doctor shouted. In the next second Solomon was pushing the Doctor out of the way and closed the man hole over an advancing pig-man.

"We can't go after him," Solomon shouted as the Doctor leaped up and tried to go back down.

"We gotta go back!" he cried. "We can't just leave him!"

"No! I'm not losing anybody else!" Solomon retorted.

Rose covered her mouth in horror at the thought of what they would do to Frank. She was shaken by how similar Solomon's words were to what the Doctor said. Beside her Martha covered her mouth too and looking at each other they clung together. Rose knew what the Doctor was like, she feared he would go after Frank. And she knew she couldn't stop him. If he did she would go with him. But for now all she could do was hold on to Martha and hope – as much as she wished Frank safe – that the Doctor wouldn't go.

"Those creatures were from hell!" Solomon shouted. "From hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry." They could hear the pain in his voice. He had really cared for Frank.

Suddenly a platinum blonde stepped out from behind a tall shelf and pointed a gun at them.

"Alright then, put 'em up!" she said. Martha's hands were up like a shot, the other three put their hands up a little slower. Rose groaned, she hated guns almost as much as the Doctor did. The blonde coked the gun with some difficulty. She clearly didn't know how to handle it… that didn't mean she couldn't shoot. "Hands in the air, and no funny business," she went on. Finally when everyone's hands were where she could see them, she continued. "Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?"

"Who's Lazlo?" Martha said incredulously. The blond looked at them calculatingly.

"Alright, walk," she commanded. "This way, come on. Move your ass!" She moved the gun, indicating for them to walk out. Cautiously they filed out, the Doctor made sure he was standing in between Rose and the girl with the gun. She didn't looked absolutely harmless and otherwise quite cute, but any idiot with a gun could be dangerous.

**?...DW…?**

"So… who is Lazlo, then?" Rose asked when they were standing in the doorway to her dressing room. The woman was sitting at her mirror, the gun lazily pointed at them.

"Lazlo's my boyfriend," she told them. "Or _was_ my boyfriend until two weeks ago." She turned to look at them. "No letter, no goodbye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid." She began waving the gun about precariously at her head and back to them, causing everyone to back up a little. "I know some guys are just pigs, but not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"

"Might… might just help if you put that down," the Doctor stammered.

"Huh?" She looked down at the gun in her hands. "Oh, sure." Still flicking the gun about, she tossed it casually onto the couch beside it. everyone flinched or jumped back. "Oh, c'mon!" she laughed. "It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

A relieved giggle bubbled its way out of Rose and the Doctor sighed in relief. A still mostly worried Martha pushed her way to the front.

"What do you think happened to Lazlo?" she asked.

"I wish I knew," the woman said. "One minutes he's here, the next – Zip – Vanished!"

"Listen, ah…" he realised he didn't know what to call her. "What's your name?"

"Tallulah," she replied.

"Tallulah."

"Three 'L's and an 'H'."

"Right. Um, we can try and find Lazlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night," he told her.

"And there are creatures," Solomon added. "Such creatures."

"What do you mean 'creatures'?" she said suspiciously.

"Look. Listen, just trust me," the Doctor said, his hands in his pockets. "Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." He pulled the green blob out of his pocket and held it out. Rose hadn't even noticed him put it in there – which sadly, she realised, was strange, because she noticed most everything he does. "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting," he finished.

"Yeuch!" she said leaning back, a disgusted look on her face.

Then the Doctor started listing off items he would need. This list soon turned into a stream of techno-babble as he fruitlessly tried to explain what he was doing. Of course the words were so complicated that not one word of it sounded English. Everyone just looked at him in bewilderment… except Rose.

"So, you're making a crude DNA scanner?" she asked. The Doctor's head snapped up to look at her in shock. He was used to the vacant looks he got when he was explaining things. No one had ever just out right got what he had said, not since Romana had left.

Slowly a huge grin spread across his face. He just couldn't believe that Rose had gotten that! And now he didn't have to dumb things down for everyone else.

"Exactly," he said happily. "Rose Tyler, I do believe you're getting smarter."

"Yeah well, hang out with the smart guy and you're bound to pick something up," she laughed nervously. Quite frankly she wasn't expecting to understand it either.

"Umm…" Tallulah said in confusion. "Why don't you try the props store?" It was clear that she hadn't understood a word he had said.

"Brilliant. Solomon, could I have a hand?" he said heading back to where they had started. Before he left he gave Rose a meaningful nod towards Tallulah. She knew he wanted her to find out more about what happened to Lazlo. Just some girl to girl chat. Then she smiled broadly at her, and left.

**?...DW…?**

"How about this?" Solomon asked, holding up a radio. "I found it backstage." The Doctor took it from him and looked at it.

"Perfect!" he said. Then he pulled the back off it. "It's the capacitors I need. Once I've rigged up my crude little DNA scanner for this beastie," he looked behind himself at the green blob. "Then, if I can get a chromosomal reading, I'll find out where it's from." He wiped out the sonic and set to work.

"How about you, Doctor?" Solomon said. "Where are you from? I've been all over. I've never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?"

He took a piece out of the radio and blew on it. "Oh, I'm just sort of passing by," he said evasively. As usual.

"I'm not a fool, Doctor!" Solomon told him. The Doctor looked up startled; most people usually just went with it. But he realised he had offended the man.

"No. Sorry."

With a sorrowful look, Solomon walked over to the manhole into the sewers.

"I was scared, Doctor," he said. "I let them take Frank 'cause I was just so scared." The Doctor gazed at him sympathetically while he collected his thoughts. "I gotta get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we gotta protect ourselves. Ain't no one gonna help us."

"Good luck," the Doctor told him as he walked past. Solomon turned back to face him.

"I hope you find what you're looking for. For all our sakes." With that he turned and left.

**?...DW…?**

"I got another show coming up," Tallulah said. "Do you girls mind waiting a bit?"

"Not at all," Rose smiled. Tallulah headed just around the corner behind a screen and they saw clothes being tossed about.

"So," Martha said. "Have you ever seen anything like that before? That blob?"

"I-I'm not sure," she replied. "It almost looks familiar, but I've never actually seen it before. But there's just something about it. Something gives me the creeps. Just - brain, one eye… Oh, I can't think!" she pounded against her head.

"One eye?"

"Yeah. Didn't you see it? Right in the middle was some weird sort of lump that looked like a closed eye."

"Nah, I didn't," Martha said.

"Who's got only one eye?" Tallulah called as she emerged from behind the screen, wearing a sliver sequin and beaded show girl costume.

"Daleks…" Rose said before she realised. She shuddered. She would do anything to forget about what those horrid creatures looked like. As the image of an unprotected Dalek rose in her mind, she pushed it back down. She didn't want to see it, she didn't _want_ to remember! "Nah, but that's silly. They're all gone. So, Tallulah," she said as the woman in question sat down and started putting on jewellery and make up. "Tell us about Lazlo? What was he like?"

"Lazlo…" Tallulah sighed. "He'd wait for me after the show. Walk me home, like I was a lady," she grinned adorably, and both Rose and Martha smiled at how sweet it was. "He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rosebud."

"Haven't you reported him missing?" Martha asked.

"Sure, but he's just a stage hand. Who cares?" she said bitterly. "The management certainly don't."

"Can't you, I don't know, kick up a fuss… throw a diva tantrum?" Rose asked.

"Okay, so then they fire me."

"But, you're one of the stars. They'd listen to you."

"Oh honey," she sighed. "I got one song in a back-street revue, and that's only 'cause Heidi Chicane broke her ankle – Which had nothing to do with me, whatever anybody says." Rose smiled in amusement. "I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville!"

"Okay, we get it," Martha said as the woman became more persistent.

"It's the depression, Sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on, 'cause if it stops, you starve." As she stood, the sadness grew in her eyes. "Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep going. Hoping he's going to come back…" she broke down in tears and Rose took her in her arms. Martha placed a hand on the poor girls shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Rose whispered. She knew what it was like to believe – well, nearly believe – you had lost the man you…

"Hey, you're lucky, though," she said as she pulled out of the hug. "You got yourself a forward thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit."

"Oh…" Rose sighed, almost sounding dejected in her denial. "He's not… we're not together."

"Oh, sure you are!" she cried going over to grab a pair of angel wings. "I've seen the way you look at him. It's obvious."

"Not to him…" she muttered. Martha looked up at her. She had always known it, but she had never heard Rose say anything to actually confirm that she was in love with the Doctor. And he had all but shouted it at Brannigan when Rose had been kidnapped.

"Ohh…" Tallulah said in realisation. "Well, I would say he's into musical theatre… but the look- ow!" she cried out.

"Oh, sorry," Martha said, stepping off her toe. She hid a secret grin. It wasn't fair for Rose to find out that way.

"Still," she carried on. "You gotta live in hope, it's the only thing that's kept me going. 'Cause… well, look." she picked up a white rose off her table and held it up to them. "On my dressing table every day, still."

"You think it's Lazlo?" Martha asked taking the rose from her.

Rose really hoped for her sake that it was. Because otherwise it was a _really_ horrible, sick joke.

"I don't know," she replied. "If he's still around, why is he being all secret, like he doesn't want me seeing him?"

"He must have a good reason," Rose told her softly. "I'm, um, I'm going to go back to the Doctor. See how he's doing. You know him, can barely last a few minutes without getting into trouble."

"Make sure he actually works when you're there," Tallulah said cheekily, as she headed out the door. "Just try and keep off that foxy body of his!" trying to smile at the joke – but failing miserably, Rose left.

"Don't," Martha said quietly. "Please, don't do that to her. It's hard enough on her when people assume they're a couple."

"But he likes her!" she said in surprise. "You can see it in his eyes. It's obvious!"

"Not to her. they're completely oblivious to each other. They act like a couple. Seriously, they hold hands… it's like they're dating with out the kissing and the rest… Well, there's a little kissing. I just wish they'd hurry up and see it." she sighed. Tallulah rolled her eyes and laughed. Wasn't it always the way.


	24. Daleks in Manhattan, Daleks

**Daleks**

.

.

"That's it," the Doctor said, training a bright stage light at the blob, which he had set up in the DNA scanner. "Just need to heat you up."

"Hey, how's it going?" Rose asked as she joined him on the balcony. Upon seeing her, a huge grin spread cross his face.

"It's all set to go," he told her brightly. "Solomon's gone back to Hooverville. Is Martha still with Tallulah?" She nodded. He noticed that she looked a little put out and uncomfortable about something. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern. He hated seeing her down.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," she said forcing a smile. The smile became more genuine when she looked up at him. She couldn't help it. Her smiled broadened when he put on his brainy specs. She knew he didn't need them, but he looked so cute in them.

"Come on, let's check this out," he said to her. They two of them lay side by side on their bellies and looked at the blob. He began tweaking the scanner and fiddled with the sonic. As he studied it, Rose took her time too look at it closely.

"I'm pretty sure I'm right," she said. "That's an eye, yeah?"

"I- I think it might be. Nice spotting." He looked at it closely and touched it. "This is artificial," he said in surprised confusion.

"Artificial?"

"Mmm, they've genetically engineered it. Whoever this is, oh, you're cleaver!" he continued playing with some knobs that changed frequencies.

"Yeah, but who are 'they'?" Rose said, the worry was back in her voice. She was still getting that horrible feeling. Something really bad was going to come of this.

"Give me a sec," he said.

"Sorry," she joked. "He's hopefully trapped in the Void." She grinned her cute tongue between the teeth smile and he giggled with her. Then his face fell slightly.

"What do you mean 'hopefully'?" Just then the little screen he'd made flashed up some numbers. "Ooh, okay. Fundamental DNA type 467-989… 989," he muttered again, rubbing a hand across his face. "Hold on, that means planet of origin…" he looked like for a moment the name wouldn't come. Then a look of utter disbelief and horror passed across his face. "Skaro!" he gasped.

"Sk-Skaro, as in the Cult of Skaro!" Rose gasped. She had known it. She had suspected that the brain thing had looked like a shell-less Dalek. But she had pushed the idea from her mind. She had even said 'hopefully' when she had joked about the Daleks being gone. Oh, she hated it when she was right!

"Come on!" he cried, taking her hand and pulling her up. He was thinking the same thing as her. How had she known to suspect that perhaps they weren't gone after all?

.

When they got backstage all the girls were in disarray. Apparently a woman had stumbled onto the stage trying to get to the other side, and then the girls had been frightened by something. They knew right away the woman had been Martha, and she wasn't there amongst them.

"Where is she? Where's Martha?" the Doctor said to Tallulah the second they saw her.

"I don't know," she replied. "She just ran off the stage."

Suddenly there was a scream from the direction of the props room. Everyone's head whipped up.

"Martha!" both the Doctor and Rose shouted. In less than a second they were sprinting towards the sound of the scream. But by the time they got there, she was gone.

"Martha?" the Doctor called again. They saw that the manhole to the sewers was open. The Doctor grabbed his coat from where he had hung it earlier and chucked it on. Rose was already starting to climb down, but he pulled her back up again. She looked at him in annoyance.

"Me first," he insisted. Rose looked relieved, knowing she wasn't being left behind.

"Oh, where are you going?" Tallulah, who had followed them, asked.

"They've taken her," he said simply, climbing down.

"Who's taken her? What are you doing?" She wined. "I said, what the hell are you doing?" Rose climbed down after him and landed in his arms as she jumped to the bottom. A few seconds later they heard the tapping of high-heal shoes on metal rungs and looked up to see Tallulah climbing down the ladder, wearing a robe over her costume.

"No, no, no, no way. You're not coming," he said up to her.

"Tell me what's going on," Tallulah demanded, pausing only a second before she continued down.

"There's nothing you can do. Go back," he protested.

"Look, whoever's taken Martha; they could've taken Lazlo, couldn't they?"

"Tallulah, you're not safe down here."

"Then that's my problem," she said forcefully. "Come on, which way?" with an ice cold glare she walked off down the wrong tunnel.

"This way," the Doctor sighed as he and Rose headed straight ahead. They heard Tallulah following behind.

"Hmm, I should talk to you like that more often. Then maybe you'd listen," Rose joked.

"You already do talk to me like that," he complained. "Every now and then… and a lot nicer," he said awkwardly. "You say nice, cute stuff. I like the nice, cute stuff. I mean, you're nice and cute so of course you say… yeah, shutting up now." He looked at the ground in embarrassment. He really hadn't meant to run his tongue like that. Rose just giggled and linked her arm through his. She daren't even let herself hope that he'd meant it in the way she wanted him to. He was just trying to describe her personality and as usual his mouth ran away with him.

They walked on through the tunnels, Tallulah chattering away the whole time. The Doctor and Rose looked cautiously around each corner. Now they knew what was out there, they didn't want to accidentally bump into anything. But the two of them were still in denial, really. They didn't want to believe that somehow, those horrid creatures had survived. They just couldn't have!

"When you say 'they've taken her', who's they exactly?" Tallulah asked. And without waiting for an answer, she carried on. "And who are you anyway? I never asked."

"Shh," the Doctor hushed her. He could hear a very faint noise, not far up ahead.

"Okay, okay," she said in exasperation.

"Shh, shh, shh, shhhh!" he held up his hand to stop her. In the light cast from the other tunnel, a shadow moved. He watched as the shadow formed into the shape of a Dalek's eyestalk.

"I mean you're a handsome enough bl-" before she could finish the sentence, the Doctor had covered her mouth, grabbed Rose's hand and was dragging the two off them into the shadows of an alcove. He kept his hand pressed over her mouth so she didn't scream when she saw it. But the second the Dalek emerged, he forgot all about Tallulah, as Rose tried to lunge forward.

Feeling her about to move, he quickly let go of Tallulah and grabbed a hold of Rose as she tried to run after the evil thing. He held her tightly around her middle and silently she struggled against him. Even after it was gone he didn't quite let go of her. But he didn't need to hold so tight anymore. She had turned in his arms and was all but sobbing into his shoulder.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" he muttered, his arms folding around her. "They survived."

"Why?" she sobbed. "Why do they always survive, while we lose everything?" He held her close. They had taken away so much from them. He could only think of two times when he could even be remotely thankful for their existence. And that was on Satellite 5, otherwise he would never have regenerated – and he really liked this incarnation. And the other was the one that had saved Rose. If it hadn't put the leaver back in place then she would be gone. The thought of Rose trapped in the Void made him hold her closer. The thought of losing her hurt like a shard of ice through his hearts.

"That metal thing?" Tallulah said in surprise. "What was it?"

"It's called a Dalek," he told her, his voice full of pure hatred and rage. "And it's not just metal, it's alive."

"You're kidding me!" she laughed.

"Do I look like I'm kidding!" he fumed. When he turned his glare on her, her nervous smile dropped instantly. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate. Who's only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive!"

"But if that's not a human being," Tallulah said nervously, "that kind of implies it's from outer space…" The Doctor kept his cold gaze on her and Rose looked at her as if to say 'well duh!' Her smile melted again. "Yet again that's a no with the kidding," she gasped. "Oi… Well, what's it doing here in New York?" The Doctor just stared after the creature in fury.

"Doctor?" Rose said gently, trying to break him out of the death glare he had going on with the empty space in front of him. "Doctor, it's okay. There's always one thing that counteracts the fact that they always survive… And that's that we always beat them. I mean, if worse comes to worst, I could always get rid of them like I did on Satellite 5?" she suggested, not really knowing what she was _really_ saying.

"No!" he shouted. "No, that will never happen again. Don't even think about it." She was surprised by how unsettled it made him. He had never actually told her much about what happened. What had she done that scared him so much? "And you… What where you thinking?" he cried. "Trying to go after that Dalek!"

"I don't know," she laughed weakly. "I hardly even realized I was doing it. I just wanted to jump on it and – break off its eyestalk or something!" The Doctor didn't laugh, but it made some of his rage melt away, just enough for him to think clearly.

"Right, Tallulah," he growled, grabbing her by the arm and started dragging her back the way they had come. "Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back, right now."

When they rounded the corner, they ran straight into a pig-man. Tallulah screamed and frantically it tried to hide in the shadows of the wall. But Rose saw that there was something different about him. He didn't seem completely pig, like the others. He still had hair and a face that looked mostly like a man's. And why was he hiding, instead of chasing after them?

"Where's Martha?" the Doctor demanded walking towards it. "What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?" he said more strongly, when it didn't reply.

"I didn't take her!" it said. Rose gasped, she hadn't thought that they _could_ talk. The Doctor obviously realized this and his voice became softer.

"Can you remember your name?" he said curiously.

"Don't look at me," he replied. Rose's heart melted with pity. He was ashamed of what he had been turned into.

"Do you know where she is?" Tallulah said, trying to help. She started to move forward but the pig-man stopped her.

"Stay back!" she shouted at her. "Don't look at me!"

"What happened to you?" Rose said sympathetically.

"They made me a monster."

"Who did?" the Doctor asked.

"The masters," he said bitterly.

"The Daleks. Why?"

"They needed slaves," he told them. "They needed salves to steal more people, so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but… it was still too late."

"Do you know what happened to Martha?" the Doctor asked more gently.

"They took her," he said. "It's my fault. She was following me."

"Were you in the theatre?" Tallulah asked.

"I never…" he stopped what he was going to say, his head turned slightly towards her despite himself. "Yes," he replied somewhat sadly.

"Why?" she demanded. "Why were you there?"

"I never wanted you to see me like this," he said quietly.

"Why me? What do I gotta do with this?" she said, moving forward. She sounded scared, but there was something else in her voice. There was a tiny hint of hope. "Were you following me? Is that why you were there?"

"Yes," he admitted, turning to face her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I was lonely…"

"Who are you?"

"I-I needed to see you."

"Who are you?" she said more strongly, her voice shaking. By now she was right beside him.

"I'm sorry," he said, turning way.

"No, wait!" She caught his arm and turned her back to him. And placed him under a shaft of light. "Let me look at you… Lazlo?" he nodded slightly. "My Lazlo? Oh, what have they done to you?" she cried, her voice breaking. She reached up and stroked his marred cheek.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Lazlo," the Doctor said quietly, interrupting them. "Can you show me where they are?"

"But they'll kill you," he said.

"If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone."

"Then follow me," Lazlo nodded. He headed off down the tunnel, the Doctor following. Rose stopped seeing Tallulah. She hadn't moved, and she looked as if she were about to burst into tears. Smiling sadly she took the poor girl in her arms.

"At - at least he's alive," she said wiping away a tear. Her bravery was heart warming. She had just found out that the man she loved had been turned into a 'monster'. And she was looking past that fact – though she was upset by it – and cared more that he had simply been found alive!

**?...DW…?**

Minutes later they neared a group of people surrounded by pig-men. They kept to the shadows as they tried to see if Martha was among them. And it was a good thing they did, because less than a second later the pig-men started squealing frantically, and a Dalek rolled around the corner.

"**SI-LENCE!****SI-LENCE!**" the Dalek commanded. Quickly the all stuck as close to the wall as they could, they were just hidden from sight.

"What the hell is that?" they heard Martha's voice. Rose let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"**YOU****-****WILL****-****FORM****-****A****-****LINE.****MOVE!****MOVE!**" The pig-men roughly began pushing the people into a line as the Dalek had ordered. But some were resisting.

"Just so what it says, everyone, okay?" Martha called out to them. "Just obey." Rose found it kind of creepy that the word Martha had used was the exact word that the Daleks favoured.

"**THE****-****FEMALE****-****IS****-****WISE.****OBEY!**" a second Dalek said as it arrived. Then it turned to the first Dalek. "**REPORT.**" Now that they could see everyone in the line, the Doctor and Rose were overjoyed to see that Frank was safe and well… Well… as safe and well as you could be around a Dalek.

"**THESE****-****ARE**** – ****STRONG****-****SPEC-IMENS**," the first Dalek replied. "**THEY**** – ****WILL**** – ****HELP**** – ****THE**** – ****DALEK****-****CAUSE.**"

"Dalek?" they heard Martha whisper. They knew that she was putting two and two together – and like them, wondering how they had survived.

"**WHAT****-****IS****-****THE****-****STAT-US****-****OF****-****THE****-****FINAL****-****EXP-ERI-MENT?**" the first Dalek asked.

"**THE****-****DALEK-ANIUM****-****IS****-****IN****-****PLACE.****THE****-****ENER-GY****-****CON-DUC-TOR****-****IS****-****NOW****-****COM-PLETE.**"

"**THEN****-****I****-****WILL****-****EXT-RACT****-****PRI-SON-ERS****-****FOR****-****SE-LEC-TION.**" A pig man came forward and grabbing a man from the line, jerked him forwards. The Dalek moved closer to the man and extended its sucker to his face. "**IN-TELLI-GENCE****-****SCAN.****INIT-IATE.****REA-DING****-****BRAIN****-****WAVES****… ****LOW****-****IN-TELLI-GENCE.**"

"Are you calling me stupid?" the mad said, sounding offended. He had suddenly found his courage when his pride had been hurt.

"**SI-LENCE!****THIS****-****ONE****-****WILL****-****BECOME****-****A****-****PIG-SLAVE.**" Two of the pig-slaves dragged the frightened man off.

"No, let go of me!" he cried. "I'm not becoming one of them!" But the two pig-slaves were too strong and soon he had been dragged off out of the tunnel.

They watched as the Dalek moved on to the next person in line.

"They're divided into two groups," Lazlo told them quietly. "High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig-slaves like me."

"Well, that's no fair!" Tallulah said too loudly. Both Rose and the Doctor shushed her. "You're the smartest guy I ever dated," she said a little more quietly.

"And the others?" the Doctor asked."

"They're taken to the laboratory."

"Why? What for?" he peered out, keeping an eye on what the Daleks were doing.

"I don't know," Lazlo told him. "The masters only call it the 'final experiment'."

Rose tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and pointed to the Daleks. He peered out to see that one of them was scanning Frank.

"**SUPER-IOR****-****IN-TELLI-GENCE**," it stated. Then it moved on to Martha. "**IN-TELLI-GENCE****-****SCAN.****INIT-IATE.**" Its sucker was barely in front of Martha's face for a second before it retracted it. "**SUPER-IOR****-****IN-TELLI-GENCE.****THIS****-****ONE****-****WILL****-****BE-COME****-****PART****-****OF****-****THE****FINAL****-****EX-PERI-MENT.**"

"You can't just experiment on people!" Martha shouted at the Dalek. "It's insane! It's inhuman!"

"**WE****-****ARE****-****NOT****-****HU-MAN.**" If Daleks had emotions, Rose would have thought that it had sounded rather smug. "**PRIS-ONERS****-****OF****-****HIGH****-****IN-TELLI-GENCE****-****WILL****-****BE****-****TAKEN****-****TO****-****THE****-****TRANS-GENIC****-****LAB-ORAT-ORY.**"

"Look out, they're moving!" the Doctor whispered, as the Daleks rolled towards them. He flattening himself against the wall, Rose did too. Lazlo grabbed Tallulah and they headed off down the tunnel.

"Doctor. Doctor! Quickly!" he said, noticing the Doctor had made his way to the edge and was peering at one of the retreating Daleks.

"I'm not coming," he whispered quickly. "I've got an idea. You go"

"Lazlo, c'mon," Tallulah gave a tug at his arm.

"Can you remember the way?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I think so."

"The go," he said. "Please."

"But Lazlo, you gotta come with me," she begged.

"Where would I go? Tallulah, I'm begging you, save yourself. Just run. Just go! Go," he said the last part more softly. Tears in her eyes Tallulah ran off down the tunnel.

The Doctor looked at Rose and nodded for her to follow. She just stood there, hands on her hips, and raised her eyebrows. The Doctor rolled his eyes, smiled slightly, and nodded for her to follow him.

Lazlo looked at the two of them, bemused by their silent conversation. Then the three of them stepped back so they wouldn't be seen by the next passing Dalek, who was leading the group along. Quickly the Doctor and Rose fell into the line. Lazlo walked beside them like a guard.

"Just keep walking," he muttered to Martha and Frank.

"I am so glad to see you," Martha breathed.

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later," he joked. "You too, Frank… if you want."

'_Oh,__I__want__…_' Rose thought. She tried to hide a look of disappointment from her face, that he hadn't said her. She didn't think that she hid it so well, because Martha looked at her and - for the first time in a little while – smiled.


	25. Daleks in Manhattan, Final Experiment

**Final Experiment**

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They were led into a huge laboratory that had been hidden under the Empire State Building. – Mentally, Rose marked this off on her list of 'Secret Bases Under National Landmarks'. – Everything was all technical looking, like a mad scientist's lair. It even had the random flame thrower spitting fire out every few seconds.

The room was crowded with pig-slaves and four Daleks. She recognised the black one as the leader of the Cult of Skaro. But something was wrong with it. It was shaking and smoking like there was something more than just the Dalek trapped inside.

"**RE-PORT**," The Dalek that had been escorting them demanded.

"**DA-LEK****-****SEC****-****IS****-****IN****-****THE****-****FINALL****-****SATGE****OF****-****EVO-LU-TION**," a Dalek they hadn't seen yet reported.

"**SCAN****-****HIM.****PRE-PARE****-****FOR****-****BIRTH.**"

"Did he just say _birth?_" Rose muttered in confusion.

"Evolution?" the Doctor said in the same tone.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked fearfully.

"Ask them," he suggested.

"What, me?" Martha said. "Don't be daft."

Just before he could explain that he couldn't afford to be noticed, Rose rolled her eyes and stepped forward out of line. He couldn't stop the groan that escaped him. This was not good. Feeling a little guilty, he slipped backwards where the Daleks wouldn't be able to see him.

"Hey! Daleks!" Rose called. The three fully functioning Daleks turned to face her. "I demand to be told what's going on. What is this final experiment? Report!"

"**YOU****-****ARE****-****A****-****COM-PANION****-****OF****-****THE****-****DOC-TOR****'****S!**" one of them said.

"**DE-STROY-ER****-****OF****-****THE****-****EMP-EROR!**" the second said.

"**ENEMY****-****OF****-****THE****-****DA-LEKS!**" said the third. They looked about, as if expecting to see something… or someone. "**WHERE****-****IS****-****THE****-****DOC-TOR?**" Rose was only surprised for a moment but didn't show it. Dramatically she looked around.

"I don't know," she said, a smile on her face. Any chance she could take to taunt the Daleks, she would.

"**WE****-****SHALL****-****DEAL****-****WITH****-****THE****-****DOC-TOR****-****LATER**," the first Dalek said. "**NOW,****YOU****-****WILL****-****BEAR****-****WIT-NESS.**"

"To what?" she asked.

"**THIS****-****IS****-****THE****-****DAWN****-****OF****-****A****-****NEW****-****AGE.**"

"And what does that mean?" she scoffed. "You gonna try and take over again? Just the four of you?"

"**WE****-****ARE****-****THE****-****ONLY****-****FOUR****-****DA-LEKS****-****IN****-****EX-IST-ANCE.****SO****-****THE****-****SPECIES****-****MUST****-****EV-OLVE.****A****-****LIFE****-****OUT-SIDE****-****THE****-****SHELL.****THE****-****CHIL-DREN****-****OF****-****SKAA-RO****-****MUST****-****WALK****-****AGAIN.**"

With that, leaving Rose and the Doctor very confused, the Dalek headed back to its leader. They watched as Dalek Sec's shell powered down. The eyestalk growing black as if it had died. Then with a hiss, the casing opened. Inside was not the creepy, slimy little creature she had expected, but a dirty curled up figure.

With some effort, the creature pulled itself from the casing and stood. It was wearing the same suit and spats as Mr Diagoras had been wearing. But this certainly was no human. It may have had a nearly human body, but the head somewhat resembled a Dalek. It had claw like hands, a huge brain like head, with three tentacles on each side and one eye in the middle.

Rose took an involuntary step back.

"What is it?" Martha whispered behind her.

Then the creature spoke. "I - am - a - Human-Da-lek," he said. "I - am - your - future!"

.

.

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_**Cliff-hanger! … That we already know the basic outcome of. But oh well.**_

_**I must say. This looks a lot prettier on my computer. Instead of these (?...DW…?) I use a little image of DW looking like the TARDIS. And the titles are in the font 'Doctor Who' found on . and everything the Daleks say is in the font 'Dalek'… also found on .**_

_**Sorry I know this was a short chapter, but I got carried away with the last one =D**_

_**.**_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. keep a look out for my next update. Thank you SO MUCH for baring with me =D**_

_**.**_

_**An PLEASE review. I like my reviews, I need my reviews, I'm very attached to my reviews… Oh, look! A Pineapple!**_


	26. Evolution of the Daleks, Hesitance

_**Hello! Had a bit of a busy weekend, but still got this done.**_

_**I**__**'**__**m**____**pretty**____**stoked**____**because**____**our**____**rugby**____**team**____**the**__** '**__**All**____**Blacks**__**' **__**just**____**made**____**it**____**into**____**the**____**finals**____**of**____**the**____**Rugby**____**World**____**Cup,**____**which**____**is**____**being**____**held**____**here**____**in**____**New**____**Zealand**____**anyway.**____**Us**____**Kiwi**__**'**__**s**____**are**____**loving**____**it!**_

_**So here we are with the next part. And I think we can assume that Rose is going to get fairly annoyed at the Doctor since he seems pretty suicidal at the moment.**_

_**And on another note, I've been doing some math… I'm terrible at it but I have a calculator. Each episode tends to be about 4 chapters long. With 13 episodes that will make season 3 alone… 52 chapters! Should I do season 4 as a separate story when I finally get there? Let me know.**_

_**Anyway, EN-JOY!**_

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***Evolution****of****the****Daleks***

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**Hesitance**

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Everyone stared in horror at the being before them. It wasn't human, and it was no longer truly Dalek. It was a monster. All Rose and the Doctor could do was stare at him in bewilderment. This was unheard of.

"These - humans - will - become - like me," Sec gasped. His speech, no longer electronic, still had the same patterns as a normal Dalek. "Prepare them - for - hybridisation. Leave the - companion. She will - lead the - Doctor - to us."

Two of the pig-slaves took a hold of her, as the rest of them converged in on Martha, Frank and the other prisoners. Rose shook them off, but stayed were she was. She wasn't stupid enough to run, she was needed there. But she was dignified enough to stand on her own. A nod from Sec told them she was allowed to be left alone… But that didn't stop them from heading over and trying to drag the others off.

"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha shouted at them. One of them dragged her forward.

Then suddenly a song began to play. Everyone looked around for the source, Rose grinned knowingly.

"What is - that sound?" Sec demanded.

"Oh, well, now, that would be me." The music stopped and the Doctor stepped out from his hiding place, radio in hand. "Hello. Surprise! Boo! Etcetera."

"Doctor," Sec might have smiled. He had been there all along, and at the threat to his companion he had come, as always.

"**THE****-****ENEMY****-****OF****-****THE****-****DA-LEKS**," one of the Daleks cried.

"**EXTERMINATE!**" said another, preparing to fire.

"Wait!" Sec ordered.

Martha stood in bewilderment. She knew that the two of them had lost so much because of the Daleks. She understood how this must hurt them to stand before the creatures they believed were dead. By all rights they should be shouting or attacking them or something. She was surprised to see that the two of them had stood there the whole time calmly, a small smile on their faces.

"Well, then," the Doctor said. A new form of Dalek." He walked forward, looking intently at Sec. "Fascinating… And very clever.

"The Cult - of Skaro - escaped your slaughter!"

"How did you end up in 1930?" he ignored the statement.

"Emergency - temporal - shift."

"Oh!" he scoffed. "That musty have roasted up your power cells, yeah?" He gave a small laughed and walked away. He wanted to insult them as much as he could! "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world. But instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting… All of which results in you." He looked back at Sec.

"I am - Dalek - in human - form," he said.

"But what does it feel like?" he said quietly after a moment. "You can talk to me, Dalek Sec… It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I - feel… humanity." He turned away as if ashamed.

"Good, that good," the Doctor told him.

"I - feel - everything - we wanted - from man kind," Sec said with his back to the Doctor. "Which is - ambition, - hatred, - aggression - and war. Such - a genius for war." He turned back, his fists clenched in excitement.

"No, that's not what humanity means," the Doctor said, the small bit of hope he had held flickering out.

"I think it does," Sec said. "At heart, - this species - is so very - Dalek."

"Alright," he said, anger tainting his voice. He strutted off so he could see all of the Daleks. "So what have you achieved, then, with this final experiment, eh? Nothing!" he shouted. "'Cause I can show you what you're missing with this thing. A simple little radio." He patted it.

"What is the purpose of that device?" Sec questioned.

"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that?" he said sarcastically. "Oh with music, you can dance to it." He winked at Rose. "Sing with it… Fall in love with it." He tried his hardest not to look at Rose as he said this. But he couldn't stop his eyes flicking towards her ever so slightly. He pushed the image of the previous him spinning Rose across the console room, out of his head. "Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise." Viciously he pointed the sonic-screwdriver at the radio and it emitted a shrill high pitch squeal that reminded Rose of Christmas.

Sec covered his ears in pain, as did the pig-slaves, who had fallen on the ground. The other three Daleks moved around to protect Sec.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted at them. All of the prisoners bolted for the door and ran through the tunnels. They were somehow separated from the others, and he hopped they were okay, but he was still herding Martha, Frank and Rose through he tunnels. "Come on! Move, move, move, move, move!" he shouted… Not that they needed any encouragement. They rounded a corner to find Tallulah standing there daftly. "And you, Tallulah! Run!"

"What happened to Lazlo!" she cried in bewilderment as he snagged her hand and pulled her along.

He didn't answer and led them over to the ladder and herded them up, climbing up last.

"Come on!" he encouraged them. Quickly they covered the manhole back up.

"Ooh! It's stinking down there," Tallulah cried. "Not to mention the cold!"

"Never mind that!" Martha said. "That's the last of our problems. Doctor, can those Dalek things follow is up?"

"Yeah, but I don't think they will," he told her. "They're not strong enough to take on a whole city."

"But hold on," Frank stopped them. "They need people, is that right? For this experiment thing, but we just escaped, so where's the one place they can go for replacements?"

"Oh god, Hooverville!" Rose groaned.

"We gotta get back there, Doctor," Frank went on. "We gotta warn Solomon."

"Come on!" the Doctor was already running for the door. Behind them all Tallulah groaned. Unlike them, she obviously didn't love the running.

**?...DW…?**

"I got bracken in my toes," Tallulah complained feebly. Nobody even bothered to look at her as they neared Hooverville. "And what is with the insects, don't they sleep? Oh, and there's mud! I got mud all over my feet!"

Rose was trying no to giggle, but it was clearly getting on Martha's nerves. The rest of them all stopped and waited for her since they were close enough.

"_Tallulah_, cant you give it a rest?" Martha growled.

"Oh, yeah?" Tallulah said back. "Well, when did _you_ last get you're boyfriend turned into a pig?" she stopped walking and began to sob again. "Stupid mud on my stupid feet!" Martha sighed in annoyance. Rose was torn between laughing and going over and comforting the poor girl.

"Doctor, is Lazlo stuck like that?" she ended up asking. The Doctor didn't say anything.

"Oh, Doctor, say you can help!" Tallulah ran up to him desperately. "You're a cleaver kind of guy, there's got to be something. Just say you can!"

"I'm sorry," he told her gently.

"You mean, he's gotta stay a pig his whole life?"

"There's nothing I can do."

"Well, there you go, just my luck," she sniffed after a moment. She started walking off. "Got any more bad news," she called back to them. Suddenly guns were pointed at them from every angle and they all raised their hands. "It's me," she said flatly. "I'm a jinx."

"Frank, tell them," the Doctor urged.

"Guys, it's me. It's okay," he said reassuringly to the men.

"Frank?" came Solomon's voice, and then he walked forward. "Frank? Is that you?"

"I made it home, Boss." The two men embraced.

"It's so good to see you. I… I thought you were lost," Solomon smiled. Frank patted him on the back and he turned to the Doctor. "And you," he said. "Thank you, Doctor, for bringing him home."

"I'd save the gratitude, Solomon," the Doctor replied. "It's not all good news."

Rose, Martha, Frank and Tallulah sat by the fire solemnly as the Doctor explained their situation to Solomon.

"These Daleks," Solomon said, "they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?"

"They're splicing themselves into human bodies," he corrected. "If I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. We've got to get everyone out."

"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go."

"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter," he said desperately. "Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state. Just get out of New York."

"There's got to be a way to reason with these things," Solomon said.

"There's no chance!" Rose scoffed. She knew that from experience. There had only ever been one time they were able to reason with a Dalek and that had been… when it had soaked up some of her _human_ DNA. And Sec now had a lot of human DNA.

"You ain't seen 'em, Boss," Frank put in.

"Daleks are bad enough at anytime," he said in a low voice. "But right now, they're vulnerable and that makes them more dangerous than ever."

They were interrupted as a whistle blew and a man ran through the camp shouting, "They're coming, they're coming!"

"A sentry must have seen something," Solomon hoisted his gun.

"They're here!" the sentry shouted. "I've seen them! Monsters! They're monsters!"

"It's started," The Doctor growled. The girls got up and stood beside him.

"We're under attack! Everyone to arms!" Solomon shouted. Rose looked on as the men started passing out guns and other weapons.

"I'm ready, Boss," Frank said as he cocked a gun. "But all you," she shouted to the panicking crowds. "Find a weapon, use anything!"

Some of the residents fled in fear.

"Come Back!" Solomon called to them. "We gotta stick together. It's not safe out there, come back!"

The pig-slaves invaded and began attacking stray people who hadn't listened.

"We need to get out of the park," Martha said.

"We can't" The Doctor told them. "They're on all sides. They're driving people back towards us."

"We're trapped!" Tallulah cried in horror.

"Then we stand together!" Solomon said as they pig-slaves advanced, pushing them into a tighter circle. "Gather round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, harry, Seamus, stay together! They can't take all of us!" The men began to fire at the pig-slaves.

"If we can just hold them off till daylight…" Martha said hopefully.

"Oh, Martha," the Doctor said looking up at the sky. "They're only the foot soldiers."

Hearing this comment, everyone stopped firing and looked up to the sky too.

"Oh, god," Rose groaned seeing a Dalek flying through the sky towards them.

"What in this world…" Solomon murmured.

"It's the devil," the sentry cried. "A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation!"

"Oh, yeah," Frank said fiercely, aiming his gun. "We'll see about that." He shot at the Daleks. But it did no damage. The Doctor pushed his rifle down.

"That's not going to work," he told Frank.

"There's more than one of them," Rose said, holding onto his arm.

Then they attacked. The two Daleks laid waste to Hooverville, shooting and blowing things up. Some people scattered. The place was in chaos. And all they could do was stand by and watch.

"**THE****-****HU-MANS****-****WILL****-****SUR-REN-DER**," a Dalek ordered.

"Leave them alone!" the Doctor shouted up. "They've never done anything to you!" Timidly Solomon stepped up in front of him. "No, Solomon. Stay back." He grabbed the man by the arm. Solomon ignored him.

"I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks, is that right?" Solomon asked. "From what I hear, you're outcasts too."

"Solomon, don't," the Doctor warned and begged at he same time.

"Doctor," Solomon said firmly. "This is my township; you will respect my authority... Just let by try." Gently he pushed the Doctor back. The Doctor reluctantly stepped back towards Rose, shaking his head. "Daleks," he continued. "Ain't we the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" he placed his gun on the ground. Despite the fact she knew it would do him no good anyway, Rose still wanted to scream at him to pick it up. "Because, see, I've just discovered, this past day, God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh, yeah. It terrifies me. Right down to the bone. But it's got to give me hope… Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So I – I beg you now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well?" he paused looking up at them. "What do you say?"

"**EXTERMINATE!**" one of the Daleks cried. It fired, and Solomon fell to the ground, dead.

"Solomon!" Frank shouted as people began screaming. He rushed to Solomon's side and leant over him weeping. "No! Solomon!"

"They killed him!" Martha gasped. "Just shot him on the spot." Rose, who knew what would come, just as the Doctor had, closed her eyes tight.

"Daleks!" the Doctor growled furiously. Then he strode out the front, his arms open wide. "All right, so it's my turn!" he shouted at them, his voice full of hatred.

"Doctor, no!" Rose's eyes snapped open and she made to run forward. But not wanting her hurt too, Martha grabbed her and held her back. "Let go of me!"

"Then kill me!" The Doctor ignored her. " Kill me if it will stop you attacking these people!"

"**I****-****WILL****-****BE****-****THE****-****DES-TROY-ER****-****OF****-****OUR****-****GREAT-EST****-****EN-EMY**," a Dalek said.

"Then do it! Do it! Just do it!" he beat against his chest, trying to drown out the sound of Rose shouting at him from Martha's arms. "Do it!"

"**EXTERMIN-**" suddenly the Dalek stopped mid-word. There was a pause. "**I****-****DO****-****NOT****-****UNDER-STAND.****IT****-****IS****-****THE****-****DOC-TOR**." It seemed to be talking to someone that they could not see or hear. There was another pause. "**THE****-****URGE****-****TO****-****KILL****-****IS****-****TOO****-****STRONG****…**" it wined. There was an even longer pause, then finally it said, "**I****… ****OBEY.**"

"What's going on?" the Doctor demanded.

"**YOU****-****WILL****-****FOL-LOW**," it stated.

"No! You can't go!" Rose cried finally breaking free and running to him. She clutched desperately at his coat.

"I've got to go," he said quietly, placing his hands under her elbows. "The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks _never_ change their minds."

"There was one…" she reminded him, her voice barely a whisper.

"Exactly," he replied. "Which is why I have to go."

"But what about us?" Martha put in, her voice shaking. She gestured out to the Hooverville crowd. He looked out at the cowering mass.

"One condition," he said turning to face the Daleks, Rose still in his arms. "If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?"

"**THE****-****HU-MANS****-****WILL****-****BE****-****SPARED.****DOC-TOR,****FOL-LOW**."

"I'm coming with you," Rose said, holding him back.

"Rose, stay here," he said in a hushed voice. "Help Martha. People are hurt, you two can help them. Let me go."

"I'm not leaving you, not with them," she said desperately.

"Rose, listen to me. Only the people here will be spared. If you come with me I don't know what they'd do. They could use you against me. Please, Rose, I want you safe." After a long look in his eyes, she slowly nodded. He pulled her to him and held her. he didn't want to let go, but he had to. The n he let her go and turned to Martha. "Martha," he said stepping forward to her. "Can I just say, thank you very much." He shook her hand and winked at her. then he walked off… Following to the Daleks.

Rose tried not to think that she may never see him again. He was the Doctor. He would survive… He had to.


	27. Evolution of the Daleks, Worry and Power

_**Sorry this one took so long. If it makes you any happier it's because I got distracted writing scenes from Human Nature, Blink, Utopia and Sound of Drums!**_

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**Worry and Power**

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In Hooverville, people walked around, putting out fires and sending the injured to Martha, who had set up in Solomon's tent. Without him there, things were in a bit more disarray than usual. Poor Frank had nearly tried to hit anyone who had tried to move his body. Now the kid just sat by the fire weeping.

Rose was trying to help, but she found that at the moment _Tallulah_ was being more help than she was. She was just so worried and so frantic. Martha had given her the psychic paper that the Doctor had handed her. She was told that she had to figure out why he had given it to them. But she was too busy praying that he hadn't been shot. She didn't like not being with him; at least if she could see him, she would know…

"Here you go," Tallulah said to Martha who was busy bandaging a man's arm. She held out the hot water. "I got some more on the boil." Rose smiled apologetically at her as she flipped the psychic paper around.

"Thanks," Martha said to her, before turning to the man she was tending. "You'll be alright. It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean." She patted him on the shoulder and with a 'thank you', he moved off.

"So, what about us?" Tallulah said quietly. "What do we do now?"

"Well, the Doctor gave me his psychic paper," Martha said. She looked down at Rose. "I'm starting to see why he gave it to me instead of Rose," she muttered.

"Sorry," Rose sighed. "I'm usually not this bad. It's just, with the Daleks…"

"It's okay," she said understandingly. "Have you gotten anywhere?"

"Well he obviously wants us to get in somewhere… But the question is, where? And what are we meant to do?"

The three girls just looked at each other, at a total loss. But they would _not_ give up. Not while the Doctor was out there with _them!_

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor walked into the laboratory, escorted by the two Daleks. He knew it was pointless and dangerous talking to these two. They could kill him, it was clear that they had been _ordered_ not to kill him. They weren't the ones in charge.

Upon seeing Sec, his anger flared to life.

"Those people were defenceless!" he shouted, storming over. "You only wanted me, but no, that wasn't enough for you! You had to start killing, 'cause that's the only thing a Dalek is good for!"

"The deaths - were wrong," Sec said adamantly before the Doctor could say a word more.

"I'm sorry?" he said incredulously, completely taken aback.

"That man, - their leader, Solomon. He showed - courage."

"And that's good?" he said. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. He could hardly dare to hope that perhaps the Dalek was different. Still, he couldn't help thinking of what Rose's DNA had done to that other Dalek. That had only been a small bit of human DNA, this Dalek had fused himself with an entire human.

"That's - excellent," Sec replied.

"Is it just me or are you becoming just a little bit more human?" he almost mocked. The mocking kept the hope at bay. But at the same time, he was almost hoping to badger the Dalek into hatred. Just to see if it really had changed.

"You are the last of your kind. And now I am the first of mine," was Sec's only reply. He almost had the feeling the creature was trying to avoid answering him. Perhaps if the other Daleks knew… No! Stop hoping!

"But what do you want me for?" he said flatly. He folded his arms and watched as Sec walked past him.

"We tried everything - to survive when we found ourselves - stranded in this - ignorant age. First - we tried growing - new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was too weak."

"Yeah, I found one of your experiments," he said bitterly. "Just left to die out there in the dark."

"It forced us to conclude," Sec continued. "What is the greatest - resource - of this planet? Its people." At this he lifted a switch and the top of the lab lit up, revealing hundreds of bundles, suspended from the roof. They could only have been human bodies. He looked up at them only before looking at the ground. He pushed aside the thought of how many people he had failed to save from these monsters.

Sec flicked another switch and one of the bodies lowered down to them. The Doctor walked over to the body, morbidly curious to see what they had done.

"We stole - them," Sec said quietly. "We stole - human beings for our - purpose. Look - inside." He gestured for the Doctor to remove the cover. With a hard face, he gently pulled the cloth aside. Beneath it lay a pale, lifeless looking human man. "This - is the true extent - of the final experiment."

"Is he dead?" the Doctor asked emotionlessly, his expression still hard.

"Near - death. With his mind wiped, - ready to be filled - with new - ideas."

"Dalek ideas," he said coldly.

"The Human-Dalek race."

"All of these people," he said. "How many?"

"We have - caverns - beyond this. Storing more - than a thousand," Sec told the Doctor. He looked away from the hanging bodies, back at Sec.

"Is there any way to restore them?" he asked. "Make them human again?"

"Everything they were - has been lost," Sec said sadly, running his hand over the man's cold cheek. The Doctor felt the anger bubble up a little more. Had they even thought this through!

"So they're like shells," he said, energy coming back into his voice. "you've got empty human beings, ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet. How are you going to do it, hmm?"

Sec turned to the other Daleks. "Open the conductor plan," he ordered.__

**?...DW…?**

The three women still stood in Solomon's tent.

Martha had tried to get the psychic paper off Rose, but Rose had hung on to it desperately. She didn't like it when the Doctor was away from her in a dangerous situation. When she closed her eyes she could see him up in a white room, surrounded by Cybermen. Or trapped down in a cavern, slowly running out of air – then falling down into a dark, endless pit. She shook her head to clear it, and forcefully pushed the images from her head. Thinking like that would get her no where. And she had to think of something to save the Doctor, _now_.

"Forget about psychic paper at the moment," Martha said. "You want to save him now, so how did you do it the first time?"

"What?" Rose said looking up in surprise.

"When you were telling me about the Daleks, you said that you destroyed the emperor. Saved the Doctor's life. How did you do it then?"

Rose's face paled. "I don't remember," she said. "I was so desperate to save him, that I looked into the heart of the TARDIS. I took in the entire Time Vortex. The Doctor said it was horrible. It nearly killed me. He hasn't told me much, other than I did it. That I was almost possessed. We call it Bad Wolf. Earlier, I suggested trying it again… God, he looked so scared. He told me I wasn't even allowed to think about it."

Martha nodded. "Oaky, so that's out of the question," she sighed, sitting down next to Rose. Rose tried not to think of the possibility that Bad Wold would surface again… like she had under the Thames. "Oaky, what else… Think!" Martha's head snapped up. "Wait a minute. Down in the sewers the Daleks mentioned this… energy conductor."

"For what?" Rose asked, sitting up straighter. Just the fact they had a small idea gave her more hope then she thought possible.

"I don't know," she replied. "Maybe it's like a… lighting conductor or… Dalekanium!" she cried. Rose sat bolt upright now, her mind completely focused. "They said the Dalekanium was in place."

"What the hell is Dalekanium?" Tallulah asked.

"It's the metal the Daleks casings are made from," Rose said excitedly. "It's bulletproof and very hard to destroy. The only thing that can break through is special guns… Jack made one once, and the Daleks own gun-stick fire would work. And the Doctor once said something about Dalekanium bombs and something called Nitro-9. Did you notice? One of the Daleks was missing some panels!"

"So where is it then?" Tallulah asked. "In place where?"

"Frank might know," Martha suggested.

"Right," they said. They all got up and went outside to the fire where frank sat, still grieving.

"Frank?" Rose said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" he sniffed, wiping his tears away.

"Frank, we need your help."

"That Mr Diagoras," Martha said. "He was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?"

"Yeah, he could find a profit anywhere," Frank said glumly.

"But were, though?" What sort of things?"

"You name it," he said. "We're all so desperate for work; you'd just hope that Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best."

"But what sort of building work?"

"Mainly building that." He pointed over his shoulder at the Empire State Building.

"Of course!" Rose cried. She felt like hitting her self in the head for being so stupid! The Dales were based under it, wherever they needed to go would be above.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor looked at animated schematic of their plan.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he sighed. "The Empire State Building. We're right underneath that. I worked that out already thanks. But what, you hijacked the whole building?"

"We - needed - an energy - conductor," Sec explained.

"What for?"

"I - am the - genetic template," Sec told him. As he spoke a diagram of human and Dalek gene strands appeared and merged together on the screen before him. "My altered DNA - was to be administered to each - human body. A strong enough blast - of gamma radiation - can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes - and waken - each body from its sleep."

"Gamma radiation?" he said in confusion. "What are- Oh, the sun! You're using the sun."

"Soon, - the greatest solar flare - for a thousand years - will hit the Earth. Gamma - radiation will be drawn - to the energy conductor and when it strikes-"

"The army wakes," he finished. "I still don't know what you need me for."

"Your genius," Sec said. The Doctor couldn't help but feel a little smug. He was so brilliant that even the Daleks called him a genius! "Consider - a pure - Dalek; intelligent - but - emotionless."

"Removing the emotions makes you stronger," he quoted. "That's what your creator thought all those years ago."

"He was - wrong."

The Doctor looked at sec incredulously. "He was what?" he said in disbelief. He was _sure_ he'd heard that wrong.

"It makes us - lesser than - our enemies. We must return - to the flesh… And also

- the heart." Around them the other Daleks were looking at each other in, what appeared to be, alarm and concern.

"You wouldn't be the supreme beings any more," he said wearily.

"And that - is good," Sec said adamantly.

"**THAT****-****IS****-****IN-CORRECT!**" interjected one of the Daleks behind them.

"**DA-LEKS****-****ARE****-****SU-PREME**!" said another.

"No. Not anymore," Sec told them.

"**BUT****-****THAT****-****IS****-****OUR****-****PUR-POSE**."

"Then our purpose is wrong!" Sec cried. The Doctor stood there, absolutely astounded. "Where has our quest - for supremacy led us? To this. Hiding - in the sewers - on a primitive world. Just four of us left. If we do not - change now, then we - deserve - extinction."

"So, you want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek," the Doctor said incredulously.

"If - you can help me," Sec replied with a nod. For a long time, all the Doctor could do was stare at Sec in utter disbelief. He had not seen this coming.

**?...DW…?**

Rose, Martha, Tallulah and Frank stood squished up in the small service elevator as it moved up. They all looked pretty nervous.

"I always wanted to go to the Empire State!" Martha said trying to break the tension. She failed miserably. "Never imagined it quite like this, though." Hearing a muttering noise she turned to Rose.

Rose had her eyes shut tight; she looked like she was itching to move. Her mouth was constantly moving in a stream of self-reassurances. "It's okay," she muttered to herself. "He's fine. He's okay. He's the Doctor; they can't do anything to him. We always beat them. They haven't exterminated him. He hasn't been shot. He'll have escaped them in no time. They're just talking. He's okay. He's alive. He's just fine-"

"Rose!" Martha stopped her. She looked at the girl sympathetically and squeezed her arm.

"Sorry," Rose said with a weary, forced smile. "I guess I just need something to distract me. It – it's just all I can think about when I'm standing still… Just waiting while he's alone with four Daleks."

"Rose he's-"

"Okay," Rose finished for her, just to reassure herself. "Yeah, I know. Of course he is…" She looked up anxiously at the dial that showed how far up there were. The sooner she was doing something to help the better she would be. As long as she was doing something to help the Doctor she wouldn't be quite so worried.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Frank asked.

"To the top, where they're still building," Martha told him.

"Hey, how come those guys just let us through?" Tallulah asked, then nodded to the psychic paper in Rose's hands. "How does that thing work?"

"It's psychic paper," Rose explained, glad to have something to distract herself with. "Show's people what you want them to think. You can suggest something and that's what they'll see. Or just hold it up and let their mind fill in the blanks. Even works on some ID machines." Tallulah and Frank looked at her in confusion at the mention of ID machines. "According to this, we are two engineers, a builder and an architect… Don't ask me who's who."

**?...DW…?**

"Your knowledge - of genetic engineering is even - greater - than ours," Sec told the Doctor as they headed back towards the body. "The new race - must be ready - by the time the solar flare - erupts."

"But you're the template," the Doctor said. "I thought they were getting a dose of you."

"I want to change - the gene sequence."

"To make them even more human?"

"Humans are - the great survivors," Sec said. He gave the human shell, what could only be described as an affectionate caress. "We need that ability." This was all too good to be true. Dalek Sec had changed so much, become so companionate. There had to be a fault somewhere. And as usual, he found it. It was only Dalek Sec who had changed. There were still three normal Daleks.

"Hold on a minute," he said. "There's no way this lot are gonna let you do it."

"I am - their leader," Sec said simply.

He turned around to face the other Daleks. "Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?" he asked them. He didn't know why he was _trying_ to stir up trouble.

"**DA-LEKS****-****MUST****-****FOLLOW****-****OR-DERS**," one said.

"**DA-LEK****-****SEC****-****CO-MMANDS,****WE****-****OBEY**," said another.

"If you don't help me," Sec said softly. "Nothing - will change."

"There's no room on Earth for another race of people," he said, finding another fault.

"You have your - TARDIS," Sec said. "Take us - across the stars. Find us a new home - and allow the New Daleks - to start again."

"When's that solar flare?" he asked cautiously.

"Eleven minutes." He looked about wide eyes. His mind was reeling, he had such a big choice. Help save the Daleks and let them grow to be a new, kinder species. Or condemn his greatest enemy…

"Right, then," he said almost in a daze. He couldn't believe he was doing this. "Better get to work."

He ran over and took a few seconds to read through their readouts and look at their equipment. He immediately saw the flaws and things that needed to be changed. "There's no point in chromosomal grafting. It's too erratic," he told them. "You need to split the genome and force the Dalek-Human sequence right into the cortex." He rushed over and poured one formula into another causing it to smoke.

"We need more chromatin solution," Sec ordered.

"**THE****-****PIG-SLAVES****-****HAVE****-****IT**," said a Dalek… It was odd hearing a Dalek being helpful…

At that moment a bunch of pig-slaves walked in carrying large crates. The Doctor looked up to watch them and saw that Lazlo was among them. Another thought struck him.

"These pig-slaves, what happens to them in the grand plan?" he asked.

"Nothing," Sec replied, a hint of sadness in his voice. "They are just - simple beasts. Their life span - is limited. None survive - beyond - a few weeks." He turned to one of the Daleks. "Power up - the engine feeds."

While the Daleks were busy preparing, he edged his way over to Lazlo.

"Lazlo, I can't undo what they've done to you," he said quietly, his voice full of regret. "But they won't do it to anyone else." The last part he said with steel in his voice. Lazlo looked back to make sure they weren't being watched.

"Do you trust him?" he asked. He nodded back over to Sec.

It took a moment for the Doctor to reply. "I know that one man can change the course of history," he said, avoiding directly answering the question. "Right idea in the right place at the right time is all it takes. I've got to believe it's possible." His voice had started to become desperate. Because he desperately needed for this to work. He looked back over his shoulder at Sec. He hoped, with all he had, that this was that time.

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_**You may have noticed that I have gone dash crazy. I'm just having so much fun putting them in!**_

_**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - H-E-L-L-O!**_


	28. Evolution of the Daleks, Shocking

**Shocking**

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When they reached the top, the four of them stepped out and looked abut in wonder. His room had been used as some sort of office and it was currently missing some walls. It was open to the cold night air and they could see all of New York spread before them.

"Look at this place!" Tallulah exclaimed. "Top of the world!" She stared off towards the edge.

Looking about Martha was the building plans and made her way to them. "Okay, this looks good," she said, getting the other's attention. Rose and Frank joined her.

"Hey," Rose gasped. "Look at the date. These designs were issued today."

"They must have changes something last minute," Frank said.

"Who, the Daleks?" Martha said.

"Yeah, could be," he said uncertainly. They looked back and forth between the two schematics.

"The ones from underneath are from before," Martha pointed out. "That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet, but not this one. We need to check one against the other." She unclipped the papers.

"The height of this place!" Tallulah suddenly exclaimed. "It's amazing!"

"Careful," Martha told her. "We're a hundred floors up. Don't go wandering off."

"I just want to see," she insisted, carefully making her way to the edge to look out at the city. Rose gave a small giggle.

"You sound like the Doctor," she told Martha. "Rule number one: don't wander off."

The two girls giggled together as they took the plans and lay them out on the ground side by side. Then they knelt down to examine it.

"I'll go and keep an eye out, make sure we're safe up here," Frank told them. "Don't want nobody butting in." He made his way out of the room through a side door and Tallulah made her way back over. She knelt down next to them.

"There's a hell of a storm moving in," she said, wrapping her gown tighter around herself.

"I wish the Doctor was here!" Rose said in frustration, poring over the diagrams. "He'd know what we're looking for."

"So tell me," Tallulah said in a gossipy tone. "There did you two first hook up with him?"

"Rose was already travelling with him when I meet them," Martha told her. "We were in the hospital… sort of."

"Of course, him being a doctor." Rose laughed at this.

"Actually, I'm the doctor," Martha said. "Well, kind of."

"You're a physician?" she said with a surprised grin. Martha nodded. "Really?"

"I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home."

"And what about you, Flower Bud?" She turned to Rose. "Where'd you meet?"

"Oh, he… you know, kind of blew up my job."

"He got you fired?"

"No, he literally blew up by job… with a bomb. He was trying to stop some alien thing invading there. Pulled me out of the basement. After that we just kept bumping in to each other. And he asked me to travel with him."

"And you just went?" Tallulah gasped.

"Well, he did have to ask twice," she smiled. "But it was the best thing I ever did. What about you and Lazlo?"

"He was already working in the revue when I joined," Tallulah said wistfully. "Even when he wasn't needed he'd come along and watch our practices. He'd always tell me I looked amazing, even if I only had a two minute back-dancer part. He didn't even look at the other girls. He was so shy. Eventually one day when he was walking me home I just jumped on him and kissed him." The three of them giggle, but soon Tallulah's face fell. She looked so sad.

"Hey, it'll be okay," Rose told her. "If the Doctor's with Lazlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out."

"And then what?" she said, her voice breaking. "Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it." Tears in her eyes, she stood and walked back towards the open wall. Rose and Martha gazed after her sympathetically.

**?...DW…?**

"**THE****-****LINE****-****FEEDS****-****ARE****-****READY**," one of the Daleks informed them.

Then it's all systems go," he told them. He ran over to a large beaker and sucked up the blue formula into a very big syringe.

"The solar flare - is imminent," Sec told him. "The radiation - will reach Earth - in a matter of minutes."

"We'll be ready for it," he assured them. He injected the contented of the syringe down a funnel. "That compound will allow the gene bonds to reconfigure in a brand new pattern. Power up!" At his command one of the pig-slaves and Lazlo pulled two of the switches on the wall.

"Start - the line feeds," Sec ordered. Soon the blue formula was running through the tubes and into the bodies.

"There goes the gene solution," he said.

"The life - blood."

Suddenly around them alarms went off and red lights began to flash. "What's that?" he asked, slightly alarmed. He had a feeling that this was not an accident or error.

"What's happening?" Sec demanded. "Is there a malfunction?" The Daleks said nothing. And in that moment the Doctor knew what was happening. "Answer me!"

"No, no, no. the gene feed!" he cried. "They're overriding the gene feed!" He ran over to the control panel to fix it. But it was pointless. It could only be operated by a Dalek, and it had already gone too far.

"Impossible," Sec said. "They cannot - disobey - orders."

"**THE****-****DOCTOR****-****WILL****-****STEP****-****AWAY****-****FROM****-****THE****-****CON-TROLS**," a Dalek bleated. Cautiously he stepped back. They were revolting, and he had no plans of being caught in the middle of it. Only problem was, that they were now in control again… And he was their number one, kill on sight, enemy. Slowly they backed him up. He retreated, keeping an eye on them.

"Stop!" Sec commanded. "You will - not fire!"

"**HE****-****IS****-****AN****-****ENEMY****-****OF****-****THE****-****DA-LEKS**."

"**AND****-****SO****-****ARE****-****YOU**," another added. Their weapons were aimed at both he and Sec.

"I am your commander," Sec fumed. "I am Dalek Sec!"

"**YOU****-****HAVE****-****LOST****-****YOUR****-****AU-THOR-ITY**."

"**YOU****-****ARE****-****NO****-****LONGER****-****A****-****DA-LEK**."

"What have you done with the gene feed?" the Doctor cut over them.

"**THE****-****NEW****-****BODIES****-****WILL****-****BE****-****ONE**** – ****HUN-DRED**** – ****PER-CENT****-****DA-LEK**."

"No!" Sec cried, he almost sounded scared. "You can't do this!"

"**PIG-SLAVES,****RE-STRAIN****-****DA-LEK****-****SEC****-****AND****-****THE****-****DOC-TOR**."

Some pig-slaves moved forward and grabbed them. Sec was taken by two pig-slaved. The Doctor was relieved when he saw that the pig-slave dragging him backwards was Lazlo. They were very close to the elevator doors now.

"Release me!" Sec shouted. "I created you. I am your master."

"**SOLAR****-****FLARE****-****AP-PROACH-ING**."

"**PRE-PARE****-****TO****-****INTER-CEPT**." Then all three Daleks turned away to work on the controls. Behind them was a ding.

"There's the lift," Lazlo said to him quietly.

"After you." Lazlo let go and pushed the surround pig-slaves out of the way. They barged through and he took out the sonic-screwdriver to open the door.

"**THE****-****DOC-TOR****-****IS****-****ES-CAPING**!" a Dalek cried. "**STOP****-****HIM!****STOP****-****HIM**!" The pig slaves charged after them. But it was too late, they were inside the elevator and the doors had closed. The two of them just stood there puffing a moment. The Doctor recovered in seconds but Lazlo leant heavily against the wall, still panting and struggling for air.

"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches the Earth," he told him. "We need to get to the top of the building." Suddenly he noticed just how bad Lazlo seemed. "Lazlo, what's wrong?"

"Out of breath," he replied hoarsely, forcing his voice to be light and cheerful. "It's nothing. We've escaped them Doctor. That's all that matters." The Doctor placed a hand on his shoulder for both comfort and to stabilise him. He looked at Lazlo in concern. How long exactly had it been since he had been changed? And just how long did he have left?

**?...DW…?**

"Look at these," Rose said pointing to some rough drawing on the designs. "This part at the top has been circled. Maybe what ever we're looking for is up there."

"Yeah, hold on," Martha pulled some more sheets out from behind the others. These ones were the old and updated designs for the last few floors and the mast. They looked at it for a moment. "Gotcha! Look!" Martha cried pointing to the base of the mast. Rose leaned in closer and Tallulah came to join them. "There, on the mast. Those little lines, they're new. They've added something, see?"

"Added what?" Tallulah asked.

They all looked at each other and a smile spread across each of their faces. "Dalekanium!" the all cried together. Then they burst into a fit of giggles.

"What's happening?" Frank said worryingly, appearing out of nowhere. The thought that something was wrong. Rose just looked at him and burst into fresh peals of laughter.

"We found it Frank!" Martha cried happily.

They gathered up the plans and pinned them back to the board. Keeping the ones they needed on the top. They needed to figure out what it was there for, and how they could get rid of it. Just at that moment the elevator dinged. For a dreaded second Rose thought that the Daleks had found the. Relief washed over her when the doors opened to reveal the Doctor and Lazlo.

"Doctor!" she cried in delight.

"First floor, perfumery," he said jokingly, sounding like a maid calling out 'room service'. Before anyone could say anything else, Tallulah was rushing forward.

"I never thought I'd see you again!" she cried running up to Lazlo. Lazlo, who had met her half way, embraced her.

"No stopping me," he told her.

The Doctor ran over to the bored with the others. In seconds Rose had leaped into his arms. He twirled her around and held on to her tightly as Martha began to explain.

"We worked it out," she told him. "We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast. And it's good to see you too, by the way."

"Oh, come here," he grinned. He finally let go of Rose and swept Martha up in a hug too. Suddenly behind them the elevator dinged again. The doors closed and it headed back down. He dropped Martha like a stone and rushed to stop it.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" he cried. "See, never waste time with a hug!" He tried to sonic the elevator back up, but his attempts were fruitless. "It's a deadlock seal. I can't stop it," he said.

"Where's it going?" Martha asked.

"Right down tot the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us up here. What's the time?"

Frank looked at the clock. "11:15," both he and Rose said at the same time. Rose blinked, great, first she knew the date, now the time. What next, was she going to start reading peoples minds too? Na she was just being silly. She must have seen the clock a few seconds ago and subconsciously picked up the time. After all, she had been looking up at it every few minutes because she had been anxious about the Doctor…

"Six minutes to go," he said. "I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits."

"Gammon radiation?" Tallulah said, getting it wrong. "What the heck is that?"

He and Rose walked out to the edge and looked out at the city. The others weren't far behind.

"Oh, that's high," he said, a hint of fear in his voice. "That's very… Blimey, that's high."

"And we've got to go even higher!" Rose gasped. "That's the mast up there, look." She led him over to the ladder where he could see the mast way above them. "There's three pieces of Dalekanium at the base. We've got to get them off."

"That's not 'we', that's just 'me'," he said to her firmly.

"I'm not just going to stand here and watch you!" she protested. "Not again!"

"Rose, I promise you, I'm not leaving you behind," he told her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I'm not even trying to protect you. You're going to have your hands full down here and they're going to need you. I'm sorry, Rose, but you've got to fight."

He pulled her to him for a moment. It was all he could do not to kiss her goodbye. He didn't want to leave her down here to fight the pig-slaves, and possibly even a Dalek. As he pulled back he saw the fear melt from her features and her eyes took on a hard, determined look. The look in her eyes almost scared him a little. She gave him a nod and he began to climb. Taking one last look back down at her he only had one thought. He would _not_ like to be a Dalek or pig-slave right now.

.

Rose watched him climb for a few more moments before heading back to the others. The Doctor would never ask her to fight if it was possible. So things must be very bad. And she was not about to let him down. There was no way that she would let anyone here be hurt. Martha, Frank, Tallulah and Lazlo would all be fine if it was the last thing she did. And more than that, _no_ pig-slave or Dalek was going to get past her to even touch the Doctor!

Each of them grabbed some sort of weapon. A hammer, a mallet, an old bit of piping. They watched as the dial above the lift slowly went up.

"The lift's coming up!" Martha cried.

"I shoulda brought that gun," Frank muttered.

"Tallulah, stay back," Lazlo commanded. "You too Martha and Rose. If they send pig-slaves, they're trained to kill."

"The Doctor needs me to fight," Rose hissed. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"They're savages," he growled. "I should know." He attempted to push her back but to no avail. "They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth!"

"Then their going to need a dentist by the time I'm through with them! Better yet a morgue!" Martha blinked at her in surprise. She'd never heard sweet Rose talk that way before. Then suddenly Lazlo collapse on the floor, weighed down by his mallet.

"Lazlo! What is it?" Tallulah cried dropping to his side. Lazlo tried to get up, but failed.

"No, it's nothing," he said. "I'm fine. Just leave me." He slumped against the wall and Tallulah felt his forehead.

"Oh, Honey, you're burning up! What's wrong with you? Tell me."

"Great" Frank muttered. "One man down and we ain't even started yet."

But Rose refused to be pessimistic. She had to hold them off so the Doctor could stop them using the gamma radiation. "Hang on," she said. "Gamma radiation, gamma strike, solar flare, storm, lightning, electricity… Of course! Martha, the lightning!"

Martha looked at her as if she were insane. "What lighting?" she cried. Just then the first bolt lit up the stormy sky. It was so close that the thunder came less than a second later. "Oh… that lightning," she said weakly. Rose had already dropped her make shift weapon and was running down the other end of the room grabbing long metal pipes. "Oh, right! Frank, give us a hand!"

Soon the three of them were running back and forth setting up a sort of rail. Making sure that each pipe was connected and raised off the ground.

"Aw, you'll be alright, sweetheart," Tallulah soothed Lazlo, brushing his hair from his face. "Don't you worry." She turned to look that the other tree rushing about. "What the hell are you clowns doing?"

"Even if the Doctor stop the Dalekanium, this place is still gonna get hit," Rose shouted. "Great big bolt of lighting, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped!"

"Who's sounding like the Doctor now?" Martha laughed at her.

"Oh my god, that could work," Tallulah exclaimed.

"Then give us a hand," Frank said in annoyance.

The four of them made fast work of it and soon Rose was fitting the last bit in place.

"Is that going to work?" Tallulah asked.

"It's got to," Martha said.

"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside," Frank said running back in.

"Okay, come here," Rose called to them all. They all huddled around the pillar, crouching low. "Frank sit in the middle and try not to touch anything metal," she said. There was a small clanging as one of the chairs holding the pipes up collapsed. Rose jumped up and ran to fix them.

"Rose!" Martha cried in alarm.

"Stay there!" she shouted. She had just fixed the pipes back in place when the lift door dinged open. A bunch of pig-slaves stared out that them. Rose made to run back to the others. She was halfway back when the lightening hit. The sky lit up in a brilliant white and blue flash. The noise was deafening as the thunder echoed around them. The electric current ran along the piping and hit the pig-slaves with full force. They shook and began to fall.

But one small tiny bolt jumped out from the pipes, seeking more metal. It latched on to the nearest thing, Rose's earring. Rose screamed as the electricity coursed through her, her shriek echoing off the walls along with the thunder and another distant scream. She dropped to the ground shaking too. Martha screamed and Frank called out her name. But she lay silent on the ground, unmoving.

.

Martha made to run over to Rose, but sensibly Frank held her back until he was sure the lighting strike was over. Then he let her up and they both ran over. Martha checked her pulse and to see if she was breathing. Her heart rate was elevated but other than that she was fine.

"Rose!" she called to her hoping she would wake up. "Rose, please be okay! Come on, the Doctor needs you!"

At that Rose's eyes snapped wide open and she sat up with a loud gasp for breath. Frank and Martha gasped and shuffled back in alarm. Something was not right. That couldn't be natural. Rose shouldn't have been able to recover from that so fast. She shouldn't be able to lift herself off the ground on her own.

And her eyes shouldn't have been glowing gold.

.

.

.

_**Whoooooo! New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup! It was so close 7-8! Good game France!**_


	29. Evolution of the Daleks, Genocide

**Genocide**

.

.

Rose blinked and shook her head to clear it. The last thing she remembered was a jarring pain rushing through her head. And then she had fallen to the ground. So she was slightly shocked to find that she was already sitting up. What shocked her more were the fearful looks she was getting from Martha and Frank.

Ugh! Her head was killing her! It was pounding horribly. Idly she wondered if there was an expression for having lighting run through you head. How the heck had she survived that? Groaning she tried to move. Her body was a little stiff, but everything was working. She felt really, really odd. And the pounding in her head wouldn't go away.

"Rose…?" Martha said hesitantly. "Is that you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's me. Who else would it be?" She tried to get back up, only to fall back over with a moan. "Word of advice, don't get electrocuted," she whimpered. Martha leaned over her and she thought she was going into doctor mode. But instead she grabbed Rose's face in both hands and stared intently into her eyes.

"What the hell was that?" she asked sounding fearful. "What was that, possession? Some sort of self healing? You recovered much too quickly."

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked through the noise in her head. She tried to ignore the feeing of her every cell tingling as if it were sparking.

"Your eyes!" Frank said his voice as fearful as Martha's. "They was glowing like stars! Gold and glowing!"

Rose froze, she knew her body glowed gold when she was Bad Wolf. "What did I do?" she asked them, trying to keep her voice level.

"What?"

"This is very important, because it's happened before and I can't always remember what happens. What did I do when my eyes were gold?"

"N-nothing," Martha stammered. "You just… sat up. It was scary, you shouldn't have recovered so soon… you should barley have recovered at all. But you sat up in seconds. Your eyes were all gold and then it just… vanished."

Rose thought about this for a moment. She had gone Bad Wolf, yet she hadn't done anything. So why had she turned. And how the heck was she okay if she wasn't meant to recover.

"Of course!" she sighed. "Bad Wolf was keeping me alive!"

"Bad Wolf!" Martha exclaimed, remembering her telling her about Bad Wolf earlier.

"Yip, it's okay. She's gone. Let's just forget about it, yeah?"

.

Gasping she clutched her head. It still hurt a little, but that wasn't what was bothering her. It was still beating. Literally beating. Like there were drums in her head. She had thought it would subside, but it didn't. It was then that she realised it sounded familiar. It reminded her of sitting in the Library, reading a book while she lay comfortingly against the Doctor. Her head resting on his chest, the comforting sound of his double hearts lulling her into sleep… Heartbeats. They were heartbeats, just like the Doctor's.

Something was wrong. Something was wrong with her Doctor.

"Doctor!" she cried in alarm. Ignoring the lingering pain, she scrambled up and headed to the scaffolding.

"Tallulah, stay here with Lazlo," Martha shouted behind her as she and Frank followed Rose up.

Rose froze when half way up she found the sonic-screwdriver lying discarded… or dropped. This made her quicken her pace and soon she was climbing over the edge by the mast. The Doctor was lying on his back, unconscious. He was dangerously close to the edge; one of his arms was even dangling off the side.

"Doctor!" she cried in alarm. She scrambled over and leant over him, placing a hand tenderly on his chest.

"Doctor!" Martha cried only a second later.

Rose looked down at him, then up at the mast and realisation dawned on her. He had gotten in the way. She didn't know _why_ he had done that, she just knew he had. "Oh, you stupid idiot! You did _not!_" she cried, whacking him on the shoulder. He let out a faint gasp. "Hey, come on," she coaxed. "Look what we found half way down." She held out the sonic-screwdriver. "You're getting careless."

The Doctors face scrunched up in pain as he began to move a little. "Oh, my head," he groaned, not opening his eyes.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Rose laughed in relief. His eyes opened slightly and a small smile tugged at his lips. "Hey," she smiled at him.

"Hi… You survived then." He still made no effort to move. She didn't blame him. She'd only been gotten by a small volt, and that felt like hell. He had gotten the full blast.

"Yup. So did you… mostly."

"Doctor," Martha said wearily. "I can't help noticing… there's Dalekanium still attached."

With a jerk he forced himself up and looked at the base of the mast. Two panels were still attached. "Oh, yes," he said, slightly guiltily. "That's right, I dropped the sonic-screwdriver before I could finish. It's okay though. I think I've stopped them." Rose helped him to his feet and carefully they made their way back down to the hundredth floor.

.

From there they just stood looking out over the city. Tallulah and Lazlo came to join them. Both Rose and the Doctor felt horrible after being electrocuted, but there was no way that would stop them.

Without realising what he was doing the Doctor reached up to stroke Rose's hair, and laughed when it gave him a small shock and started to rise in the air, following his hands. As he lowered his ands the hair would go back down, up and it would follow back up. For a moment he stood there giggling, moving his hands up and down above Rose's head. She was giving him a very odd look but was struggling to keep a smile off her face.

"This is pretty fun," he grinned.

"Doctor!" Martha snapped him out of it.

"Right, sorry." His hands shot behind his back and he plastered on a serious expression. Slowly he reached up and leant on the scaffolding.

"So, what will happen now?" Rose asked him. She was still concerned by the fact he had knowingly jumped in front of a lighting bolt. Yes, she had been shocked too, but at least she had tried to escape.

"The Daleks will have gone straight to war footing," he said, his voice cold with hatred. "They'll be using the sewers, spreading their soldiers out underneath Manhattan."

"How do we stop them?" Lazlo demanded.

"There's only one chance," he replied. His voice softened slightly, because he knew his answer would most likely scare Rose and Martha, and make them worry about him. Though he feared Rose already knew. "I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping through me first." He turned and walked away before either of them could make a fuss.

"What is it with you two and trying to kill yourself?" Martha muttered to Rose. "I swear I'm never letting you near a live wire of lightning storm again." She turned to the Doctor, chasing after him. The other's followed suit. "But what does that mean?" she asked him.

"We need to draw fire," he said to himself more than anyone else. "Before they can attack New York. I need to face them. Think, think, think, think," he muttered running his hands through his hair, making it stick up even more. "We need some sort of space, somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way… Tallulah!"

"That's me. Three 'L's and an 'H'," she replied, holding up her finger as if she were raising her hand.

"The theatre!" he cried. "It's right above them. And, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"

"Don't see why not," she shrugged. He looked back at the elevator, planning to run to it. But he saw the connection of pipes and the dead pig-slaves slumped all thought the lift.

"Is there another lift?"

"We came up in the service elevator."

"That will do," he cried. "Allons-y!"

And the six of them all squished up into the small lift. It had been bad enough with just four of them. Not that Rose was complaining. After all, she was pressed right up against the Doctor, and his arms were resting around her, keeping her up.

**?...DW…?**

"This should do it, here we go!" he cried. He flung his coat somewhere over one of the seats. Jumping up on the seats, he turned on the sonic-screwdriver.

"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark," Tallulah whinged. "Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes, but there's a time and a place, huh?"

Beside her Lazlo fell into one of the cheers and her attention focused on him immediately. The Doctor just continued to point about the sonic.

"Lazlo, what's wrong?" she asked worrying, sitting next to him.

"Nothing," he gasped. "It's just so hot."

"But… it's freezing in here. Doctor, what's happening to him?"

"Not now, Tallulah, sorry," he said. He finally got the sonic to the frequency he wanted and held it up in the air.

"What are you doing?" Martha asked him. She wasn't so sure she was going to like the answer.

"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll wanna find their number one enemy… I'm just telling them where I am. Alright, the lot of you have to leave."

"Nah ah!" Rose said firmly. She crossed her arms and stood her ground, Martha took on a similar position. "How many times do I have to tell you? I _won__'__t_ leave you."

"Rose, this is important. You _have_ to go."

"No!"

"I'm _telling_ you to go," he said. He jumped down off the chairs. "Frank can take you back to Hooverville." Normally, he _may_ have let her stay… perhaps if she hid. But with what he was about to do, he didn't want her around to see it… or to try and stop him.

"And I'm telling you I'm not going."

"And neither am I, Doctor," Martha put in, her tone just as sharp as Rose's.

"Martha, that's an order." He was willing to negotiate with Rose; after all, he was trying his best to keep her at his side. He knew she could handle herself. But Martha had to be far a way from harm as he could get her.

"Who are you, then?" Martha snapped. "Some sort of Dalek!" Even Rose's eyes widened at that one. She remembered the first time she had met a Dalek, she had very nearly said the exact same thing. But now she knew just how much that would have hurt him.

He didn't have the chance to reply, because at that moment the doors crashed open and the Dalek-Human marched in.

Quickly the Doctor went and stood beside Frank, he leant down and whispered in his ear. "If Rose moves, if she does anything, I want you grab her and hold onto her as tight as you can. She'll put up a huge fight, but what ever you do, do not let her go." Frank nodded to show he understood.

On either side of them the Dalek-Humans moved in, holding guns that looked like the ones attached to the Dalek shells.

"Oh my god!" Tallulah cried. "Well, I guess that's them then, huh?"

"Humans with Dalek DNA?" Martha said.

"Just say calm. Don't antagonise them," the Doctor warned.

"But what about the Dalek masters?" Lazlo said, struggling to stand. "Where are they?"

.

Suddenly there was an explosion in the stage. They all ducked down behind the chairs and Tallulah screamed. Carefully they peaked over the edge to see two Daleks coming out of the smoke. Dalek Sec was chained at their 'feet' – or lack of – forced to crawl. Slowly the Doctor stood up, so did the others… all except Tallulah, who only peered over the edge.

"**THE****-****DOC-TOR****-****WILL****-****STAND****-****BE-FORE****-****THE**** – ****DA-LEKS**."

The Doctor nodded to Frank, who braced himself. Then he pushed himself up and standing on the backs of the chairs, walked forwards.

"**YOU****-****WILL****-****DIE****-****DOC-TOR.****IT****'****S****-****THE****-****BE-GINN-ING****-****OF****-****A****-****NEW****-****AGE**."

"**PLAN-ET****-****EARTH****-****WILL****-****BE-COME****-****NEW****-****SKARO**."

"Oh, and what a world," he spat. "With anything just the slightest bit different _ground_ into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec! Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire? Hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilisation?"

"Listen to him!" Sec pleaded.

"Oh, and I'm sorry, Dalek Sec, for give me," he scoffed mercilessly. "But how many worlds have suffered like you? How many victims? How many millions have _wept_ in front of the Daleks and been shown no mercy, just like you are now?"

"I know," Sec whispered. His one eye brimming with tears. "Don't - you see? I know." Then he turned to the Daleks on either side of him. "My Daleks… just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."

"**IN-CORECT**!" a Dalek snapped. "**WE****-****WILL****-****AL-WAYS****-****SUR-VIVE**."

"**NOW****-****WE****-****WILL****-****DES-TROY****-****OUR****-****GREAT-EST****-****ENEMY.****THE****-****DOC-TOR**."

Rose made to go forward at this but Frank grabbed her by the wrist. "Just wait a moment," he whispered. Reluctantly she agreed and stayed still. Frank didn't let go of her.

"But he can help you!" Sec told the Daleks.

"**THE****-****DOC-TOR****-****MUST****-****DIE**!"

"No, I beg you, don't!" he shuffled and crawled along. Hoping to draw them away from the Doctor.

"**EXTERMINATE**!" And Dalek Sec fell to the ground, dead. The Doctor looked at the Dalek in fury.

"Your own leader!" he said in disgust. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." He turned to the Dalek-Humans. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?" He turned back to the Daleks before him. "If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh?"

"Doctor!" Rose cried aghast. Frank knew that this was the moment the Doctor hand meant. And with his grip, still firm on her wrist, he pulled her into his arms and held on to her. "Frank, let me go!" she shouted, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. She struggled and kicked, but he held tight. Martha stood beside them, unsure of who to help. She was sure he was following the Doctor's instructions. "The Dalek-Humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them!" Slowly he raised his arms and held them out at his sides, like a sacrifice.

"**DA-LEK-HU-MANS,****TAKE****-****AIM**."

"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" he shouted at them.

"No!" Rose shrieked, redoubling her efforts to get free. He didn't even glace back at her as she struggled to get to him. He trusted Frank to keep her safe.

"**EXTERMINATE**!"

He closed his eyes and braised himself for the shot. Tallulah curled into Lazlo. Frank held on to Rose, who was even more determined to get out. He curled her into him, trying to shield her from what she was about to see. Martha whimpered and curled into Rose, trying to do the same, and effectively made it harder for her to get in the way.

… But nothing happened.

"**EXTERMINATE**!" the Dalek said again, more forcefully. Still nothing happened. "**OBEY.****DA-LEK-HU-MANS****-****WILL****-****OBEY**!"

"They're not firing…" Martha whispered. Rose calmed down a little and took in the situation. "What have you done?" she called up to the Doctor.

"**YOU****-****WILL****-****OBEY.****EXTERMINATE**!"

"Why?" the Dalek-Human closest to the Daleks asked in a thick voice. Every head and eyestalk snapped to him. Slowly the Doctor's arms fell to his sides.

"**DA-LEKS****-****DO****-****NOT****-****QUEST-ION****-****ORDERS**."

"But why?" the Dalek-Human said again.

"**YOU****-****WILL****-****STOP****-****THIS**!"

"But… why?"

"**YOU****-****MUST****-****NOT****-****QUEST-ION**!"

"But you are not our master," he said. "And we… we are not Daleks."

"No, you're not," the Doctor said gently. "And you never will be." He looked back up at the Daleks with renewed enthusiasm. "Sorry," he said unremorsefully. "I got in the way of the way of the lighting strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom." He winked at them.

"**IF****-****THEY****-****WILL****-****NOT****-****OBEY,****THEN****-****THEY****-****MUST****DIE**!" With that the Dalek shot at the Non-Dalek-Human who had spoken out.

"Get down!" the Doctor cried.

They all ducked beneath the chairs just as a full scale war broke out above their heads. The two Daleks shooting at the Non-Dalek-Humans, and the many Non-Dalek-Humans shooting right back. For a while all they could hear were the sounds of gunfire and the Daleks constant cried of "**EXTERMINATE**!"

There was a boom and one of the Daleks was blown up. It was followed a few moments later by the other one. The Non-Dalek-Humans stopped firing and everyone stood up. The Doctor stumbled over to the Non-Dalek-Humans to clam them down and make sure the remaining ones were okay.

"It's all right. It's alright. It's alright. You did it. You're free," he told them.

Then he turned from the Non-Dalek-Humans and grinned at Rose who was running up to him. He was _very_ surprised and shocked when her hand swung round and hit him in the face. The oh-so-famous Tyler Slap. He'd been on the receiving end of one from her mother before; he had thought that was bad enough. But getting one from Rose was 100 times worse, physically and emotionally. He was even more shocked and confused when in the next second she had her arms around him in a hug that left him gasping for air.

"You stupid, idiotic jerk!" she cried in relieved frustration, she also sounded a bit too angry for his liking.

"What did I do?" he protested.

"That, back there!" she said pointing back to the chairs where he had stood moments ago. "Three times in one day, you were asking for it! I swear, if you try to sacrifice or kill yourself one more time today…" He grinned at her adorable and empty threat. She had slapped him because she was scared for him? Oh, crazy, wonderful, beautiful Rose Tyler…

.

Before he could reply to her, all the Non-Dalek-Humans suddenly began to scream and put their hands to their heads in pain. It was like they were hearing a horrible sonic sound that was frying their brains… actually, that was what was happening.

"No!" he cried. The Non-Dalek-Humans crumpled to the ground, dead. "They can't! They can't! They can't!" he cried.

"What happened?" Rose asked at the same time that Martha rushed over yelling, "What was that?"

"They've killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species… Genocide!" his voice became harsher with fury.

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed," Lazlo said. "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."

"Oh, yes," the Doctor hissed, standing up. His eyes were wide with fury, staring out at nothing. Rose knew he wasn't seeing what was before him. "In the whole universe, just one."

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor stood alone. The Dalek was opposite him on the other side of the laboratory. The last Time Lord facing the last Dalek.

"Now what?" he said coldly.

"**YOU****-****WILL****-****BE**** – ****EXTERMINATED**!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, sick of the usual conversation. "Just think about it Dalek- …What was your name?"

"**DA-LEK****-****CANN**."

"Dalek Cann." He pushed aside his coat and stuck his hands in his pockets. With slow, heavy footfalls he walked forward. "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated. Leaving only you. right now, you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion. 'Cause I've just seen one genocide. I wont cause another. Cann… let me help you. what do you say." For a moment Dalek Cann said nothing.

"**EMER-GENCY**** – ****TEMP-ORAL****-****SHIFT**!" it shouted. It began to shake and glow, then it vanished, leaving the wires it had been plugged into just dangling there. Angrily the Doctor ran forward, but was too late to stop it.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Martha's cries came form the end of the lab. He turned to see the three girls half supporting, half dragging Lazlo in. "He's sick." They lowered him to the floor and Tallulah cradled him in her arms, a look of worry and terror on her face. She couldn't loose him, no matter what he was. He was her Lazlo!

"It's okay," Rose soothed him. "You're alright."

"It's his heart," Martha said. "It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it!"

"What is it, Doctor?" Tallulah asked him. "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe. What is it?" The Doctor walked over and crouched down next to them, pity and sorrow etched across his face.

"It's time, Sweetheart," Lazlo gasped out.

"What do you mean 'time'? What are you talking about?" she sobbed.

"None of the slaves… survive for long," he told her, struggling for breath. "Most of them only live a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on 'cause I had you. But now… I'm dying, Tallulah."

"No you're not," she said. "Not now, after all this." She lifted her tear streaked face up to the Doctor. He crouched before her, his too old eyes burning with sorrow, and his clasped hands pressed against his lips. "Doctor, can't you do something?" she pleaded.

"Oh, Tallulah with three 'L's and an 'H'…" he said sadly. He paused a moment… then his voice became more determined. "Just you watch me!" Suddenly he jumped up and threw his coat off. "What do I need?" he said, life pouring back into his voice. "Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look! I've got one! Lazlo, just you hold on!"

Rose smiled, tears coming to her eyes as she watched him run about mixing formulas together. She knew that he believed he caused death and destruction where ever he went. But she knew that none of them were his fault, though he may bare the burden of the guilt that was not rightfully his. She knew that he would always do everything in his power to save everyone. It was one of the many things she loved most about him.

"There's been too many deaths today," he babbled as he ran about. "Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one! Tallulah, out of the way," he ordered, pulling out his stethoscope and putting it on. "The Doctor is in!"

And so, the Doctor ran to save, just that one life. That one incredible loved life.


	30. Evolution of the Daleks, Comfort

**Comfort**

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.

The trio stood together, Tallulah and Lazlo not far from them. Lazlo was donned in a large coat and hat that hid most of his face from passers by. Tallulah was clinging to his side, a wide smile on her face.

They all watched as Frank ran over to them and they took a few steps closer.

"Well, I talked to them," he said to them. "And told them what Solomon would've said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of them."

"What did they say?" the Doctor asked.

"They said yes," he grinned. Laughing with glee, Tallulah hugged Lazlo. "They'll give you a home, Lazlo. I mean, uh, don't imagine people ain't gonna stare. I cant promise you'll be at peace. But, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for. People who ain't got nowhere else."

"Thank you," Lazlo said sincerely. "I can't thank you enough."

.

After so tearful goodbyes on Tallulah's side, Rose, Martha and the Doctor headed back to the TARDIS on Liberty Island. They stood there looking out on the dusky morning sun line.

"You reckon it's going to work, those two?" Martha asked.

"If they really love each other, yeah," Rose said, smiling softly. "Doesn't matter what species you are, or what you look like. I reckon that if you love each other enough there's nothing to stop you." The Doctor looked at her and smiled. She could be such a sweet romantic sometimes. But there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. Because there was one thing that could stop it. one thing that keep him up at night in fear.

"Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them," he said hiding the emotion in his eyes before Rose could see it. "But New York? That's what this city's good at. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses'… and maybe the odd pig-slave-Dalek-mutant-hybrid too." The three of them giggled.

"The pig and the show girl," Martha grinned. "Just proves it, I suppose. There's someone for everyone." She was looking at Rose and the Doctor when she said this. Their hands clutched together, leaning in towards each other as if it were completely natural.

"Yeah, maybe," the Doctor said cheerfully. Then he walked back towards the TARDIS, rose at his side. Martha smiled and followed. Those two _had_ to be blind. She would bet that even the Daleks could see they loved each other.

"I meant to say… I'm sorry," she said just before they stepped inside.

"What for?" he asked.

"Just 'cause that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you." Both Rose and the Doctor's faces fell. "Thing you'll ever see it again?"

"Oh yes," he said flatly, trying to keep any emotion from his voice. "One day."

And feeling a lot more solemn than they had a few minutes ago, they walked into the console room.

**?...DW…?**

Rose walked down the hall carrying two cups of hot steamy tea. The Doctor had just wondered off and left her and Martha alone in the consol room. Martha was in her bathroom, having a shower. So she went to find him. She knew exactly where he'd be.

The study was more of a den really. The lights were dim and the walls dark. There was a desk in the corner that has hardly ever used. And a large TV on the far wall with some of Rose's favourite movies.

The Doctor was exactly where she expected to find him. He was lying on the couch, staring up at the dark ceiling. The only light was from the fireplace just in front of him; it cast flickering shadows around the room and illuminated his sorrowful face and flashed off his dark eyes.

Silently she placed the teas on the ground. She quietly knelt down beside him and began to massage his temples. He sighed in content, letting her clam him. Slowly he sat up and allowed room for her. Smiling she handed him a cup of tea.

"Ta," he said quietly. He sipped at it as Rose snuggled in beside him. They sat there in comfortable silence for a while, just drinking their tea and taking strength from each other's company. He could never really sit still, and absentmindedly he began playing with her hair. She shivered so he pulled her closer, believing her to be cold.

"Will we ever be free of them?" she eventually whispered.

"I don't know," he said just as quietly. "Just when you think they're gone for good…"

His eyes darkened again and she reached up held his face. Just the feel of her skin against his and the look in her beautiful hazel eyes brought him the comfort he'd been longing for. He smiled at her and slowly her hand slipped way. He felt the loss of its warmth severely, but didn't show it. He was content enough to just hold her to him. To know that she was safe and he had her, for however brief a moment.

They stayed there for a long time. Sitting in each others arms, drawing comfort from the other. And just for a while, they could forget.

.

.

.

_**Bit of a bitter sweet ending there. I must say that I am ridiculously addicted to fluff, but thankfully I also have the ability to see the darker side of things. I could just see the Doctor going into sad solitary brooding, and of course the only person who he would ever let him see like that would be Rose. Because she is his strength.**_

_**There really aren't enough in-between-y bits, but I don't want to make it TOO long. I've already added an extra story in. but I wont tell you where or what happens because that would be SPOILERS!**_

_**So, I hope you enjoyed this one. Don't worry the next one will be much happier.**_

_**Please review. I love getting your reviews they mean a lot!**_


	31. The Lazarus Experiment, A Bet

_**And welcome back! First off I would like to thank you all for sticking with me this far! Especially all my regular reviewers! Oh… And a special thank you to Aussieflower and my Smexy Bexy for all your help and love!**_

_**Since not many people seem to like this episode for some reason, I thought I'd make it a little interesting. Let's have a little bet shall we…**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

.

***The Lazarus Experiment***

.

**A Bet**

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.

Rose and Martha clung to the console as they rattled about through the time vortex. Having seen him do this many times Rose nearly knew all the right buttons, and before he had time to race around from the opposite side of the console, she was pressing one of the buttons for him. He grinned at her, secretly pleased that she was picking it up. He could pretend to be annoyed with her about it later.

Then, surprisingly without the usual lurch, they landed.

"There we go," the Doctor said happily. "Perfect landing… Which isn't easy in such a tight spot." He scratched the back of his head.

"You should be used to tight spots by now," Martha joked. She looked excitedly at the door. "Where are we?"

"The end of the line," he told her. Rose frowned. She didn't want her new friend to go so soon. Martha rushed towards the door, excitement still in her eyes. She obviously didn't get what he was hinting at. "No place like it," he added.

She looked at him, asking silently if she could go out. He gave her a nod and with a grin she stepped out into… her flat.

"Home," she said in disappointment "You took me home?"

"Back to the morning after we left," he told her. "So you've been gone about 12 hours. No time at all, really."

"You sure it hasn't been a year?" Rose teased as the Doctor started looking at Martha's belongings and pictures.

"Oi!" he said indignantly.

"But all the stuff we've done," Martha said, sounding slightly hurt. "Shakespeare, New New York, old New York?"

"Yip, all in one night," he said oblivious to what she meant and how she was feeling. "Relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was. Books, CDs… laundry." He plucked a pair of her underwear off the line. Quickly she snatched the offending lingerie from his hands. "So, back where you were. As promised," he finished.

"This is it?" she said almost incredulously. Rose just stood sadly by the door. The Doctor inhaled deeply and nodded.

"Yeah. We should probably… um…" He didn't get to go on with the failing sentence as he was interrupted by a beep from the answering machine.

'_Hi! __I__'__m __out. __Leave __a __message!__'_ Martha's recording said brightly.

"I'm sorry," Martha said.

'_Martha?__'_ came a voice through the speaker. '_Are __you __there?__ Pick __it __up, __will __you?__'_ the woman sounded frustrated.

"It's Mum," she told them. "It'll wait."

'_Alright__ then,__ pretend __that __you__'__re __out __if __you __like._' They gave a little giggle. '_I __was __only __calling __to __say __that __your __sister__'__s __on __TV. __On __the __news __of __all __things. __Just __thought __you __might __be __interested.__'_ The machine beeped again as her mother hung up. Curiously Martha picked up the remote and switched on the TV.

"How could Tish end up on the news?" she said. On the screen they saw an old man addressing the crowd at his feet. Just off to his side stood a young dark girl who must have been Martha's sister.

'_The__ details __are __top __secret,__'_ the man was saying. '_But __I __can __tell __you __that __tonight, __I__ will __demonstrate __a __device __which __will__…'_

"She's got a new job," Martha spoke over the TV. "PR for some research lab."

'…_with__ the__ push__ of__ a__ single __button,__'_ the old man on the TV was saying, '_I__ will__ change __what__ it __means__ to__ be __human.__'_ People on screen applauded and Martha switched the TV off.

"Sorry," she said. "You were saying you should…" Rose and the Doctor stared distractedly at the blank screen, and then the Doctor seemed to snap out of it.

"Yes, yes. We should. One trip we said."

"Yeah. I suppose things just kind of… escalated."

"Seems to happen to us a lot," Rose grinned.

"Thank you," Martha said to them. "For everything."

"It was my pleasure," the Doctor said. Then he stepped into the TARDIS. Rose went over and hugged her before following him in.

.

The Doctor was already sending them off when she closed the door.

"Well, that was fun," he said brightly. "Where to now?" Rose just stood by the door and raised her eyebrow. She was surprised he hadn't clicked on by now. "What?" he asked in confusion, seeing the look on her face.

"And three… two… one…" she muttered. Suddenly the Doctor stopped rushing around and his eyes widened.

"Hang on…" he cried. Rose smiled as he sent them back. He rushed past her to the door and pushed it open. He stuck his head out and looked at a delightedly surprised Martha. "No, I'm sorry," he said. "Did he just say he was going to change what it meant to be human?"

**?...DW…?**

Rose looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't really have any formal dresses of her own; she had found this one in the TARDIS wardrobe. As usual, it fitted her perfectly, clinging to her skinny figure and showing off her curves nicely. It was mostly backless and the straps tied behind the neck. The neckline of which, plunged down low and showed off a good amount of cleavage. She wasn't able to wear a bra with it, but thankfully the dress held her breast up nicely. The dress was made of layers of soft, float-y, TARDIS blue chiffon that flared out just before the knees.

To go with it, she had found some matching shoes and delicate jewellery. The pendant, she noticed, had Gallifreyan writing on it. Her hair had been twisted up into a swirl and she had left some ringlets falling down… (How long that would last, she had no idea). She had done TARDIS blue eye shadow and surprisingly had only done all of her make up rather light.

She found that in the past few moths she hadn't been applying it quite so thickly.

After checking to make sure she was satisfied with the result, she turned and left her room.

.

"Black tie," Rose heard the Doctor mutter as she came down the hallway. "You know whenever I wear this, something bad always happens."

"That's not the suit, that's just you!" Martha laughed. "Anyway, I think it suits you, in a James Bond kind of way."

"James Bond?" he almost scoffed. But then his voice became hopeful. "Really?" Martha giggled and so did Rose. She entered the control room and stood by the entrance to the hall. The Doctor was searching through his pockets; he had his back to her.

"Alright, I'm ready," she said looking down at herself. "What do you think?"

"Aw, brilliant!" he cried.

"You think so?" she said. But looking up she realised he hadn't heard her. He was pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"I thought I'd lost that. United States Declaration of Independence. First Draft." He held it out and showed Martha. "Before I got them to stick in the bit about the pursuit of happiness," he laughed. "Thomas Jefferson, he was funny. Spoke Gaelic, you know. Very keen on tomatoes for some reason…" His words petered out when his eyes fell on Rose standing in the entrance. His mouth fell open slightly. "You look beautiful!" he gasped before he could stop himself.

"Considering I'm human," she smiled, remembering the first time he had done that.

"Considering nothing," the Doctor murmured so low she couldn't hear.

"Hey, you look pretty!" she said noticing Martha. She was wearing a purple dress made from the same fabric as hers. But her dress was slightly longer and revealed a little less skin. She hadn't done too much to her hair or make up. And she noticed for the first time that she had a cute tattoo on her shoulder.

"And here I was thinking I was dressing up," Martha laughed. "Next to you I'm going to look like I've come in casual dress! You look gorgeous!"

Rose blushed, causing the Doctor to swallow. He hadn't taken his eyes off her. He tried to stop his eyes from sweeping hungrily over her body… which the dress was showing a lot of. There was no doubt that tonight his wouldn't be the only eyes taking her in… He was going to have to keep her close.

**?...DW…?**

It really was one of those flash parties. The kind that rich people went to and strutted around talking in their posh accents. There was a small string orchestra playing classical music in the corner and waiters were carrying around trays of fancy finger foods and drinks.

"Oh, look! They've got nibbles!" the Doctor cried excitedly. He picked one off a passing tray. "I love nibbles!" Then he popped it whole in his mouth and licked his fingers. Rose giggled at him.

"Hello," said a young woman, walking up to them. It was Martha's sister.

"Tish!" Martha said happily. The two of them hugged.

"You look great," Tish told her. "So, what do you think?" she gestured to the room. "Impressive, isn't it?"

"Very," Martha nodded.

"And two nights out in a row got you - that's dangerously close to a social life!"

"If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns!" Martha mocked.

"You might, actually," Tish said a little more seriously. "Keep an eye out for photographers. And mum. She's coming too, even dragging Leo along with her."

"Leo in black tie?" Martha said incredulously. "That I must see." She noticed Tish glancing at Rose and the Doctor.

"Oh, this is the Doctor and Rose."

"Hello," the Doctor said shaking her hand.

Rose smiled and shook her hand too. "Hi," she said sweetly.

"Are they here with you?" Martha nodded. "But they're not on the list." She looked on her clipboard. "How did they get in?"

"He's my plus one," Martha told her sister… then realised the flaw in that plan. "And she's, uh… his plus one…"

"So, this Lazarus bloke, he's your boss?" the doctor asked, trying to distract her away from the slip up.

"Professor Lazarus, yes. I'm part of his executive staff."

"She's in the PR department," Martha told them.

"I'm head of the PR department, actually," she said indignantly.

"You're joking!"

"I put this whole thing together."

"So," the Doctor said, wanting to start with some digging. "Do you know what the Professor's going to be doing tonight? That looks like it might be a sonic micro-field manipulator."

"He's a science geek. I should have known," Tish said. "I've got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later." With that she turned and walked off to mingle with the wealthy.

"Science geek? What does that mean?" the Doctor said naively.

"That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it," Martha told him, trying to word it nicely.

"Oh," he grinned. "Nice." Rose had to hold her hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles that threatened to erupt from her.

"Martha!" another voice called from behind them. Martha ran over to the woman, who was her mother, and hugged her. The Doctor turned to watch her. But Rose didn't notice any of this.

She was too busy looking for a quick escape exit. It's funny. Stick her in a room of aliens who _might_ try and attack her, and she would be fine. Stick her in a room full of fancy posh people and she just wanted to go hide in the corner or get the hell out of there. After all, she was just a little shop girl from the Powell Estate.

That's what she loved about travelling with the Doctor. It didn't matter who she was. It didn't matter that she didn't have a job and didn't have any money. Or that she grew up with her struggling mother and no father. Or that she wasn't really all that smart. And no matter how big she knew the universe was, she never felt small. She could just be herself… and be somebody.

But being back here, in a room full of elegantly dressed, snobbish people, brought back the feeling that she was just a tiny little nothing of a girl. It reminded her that there ware always people out there who thought they were better than you for stupid superficial reasons. And that people didn't hesitate to judge you and think the worst.

While she was looking for her escape, something grabbed her attention. It must be the laboratory's logo or something, because it was everywhere. It was a circle of dots. It was split into two arcs, going from small to big. Something about it struck her… like she had seen it before. Like a familiar piece of art or foreign language…

.

"Have you? What have you heard then?" Martha's mother's sharp voice cut into her thoughts. Rose saw that the Doctor was looking fairly caught out.

"Oh, you know… that you're Martha's mother and… um… No, actually, that's… that's about it," he stuttered. "We haven't had much time to chat. You know, been busy."

"Busy? Doing what, exactly?" Mrs Jones snapped. Rose groaned seeing where this was going.

"Oh… you know… stuff…"

Rose could have hid her face in embarrassment for him. Didn't he realise how _bad_that sounded? Didn't he realise he was a few seconds from being slapped?

Sneakily she slipped off the pretty ring she had put on earlier and swapped it to her left ring finger. Then she walked up and looped her arm through the Doctor's, making sure to show off the ring.

"What my fiancé is trying to say," she smiled at Martha's mother. "Is that he and I have been talking to Martha about business. We're working on something fairly big and we believe her skills and young bubbly personality would be a great asset to out team. We spent most of the night discussing options with her. I'm afraid we probably kept her up far too long." She winked at Martha. "And you'll have to forgive this idiot's lack of words," she laughed at his offended expression. "Quantum physics, no problem. He could give you a week long lecture if you let him. Every day words… not quite so much."

"Oh, I am not _that_ bad," he told her playfully.

"You are too!" As they bantered she led him over a short distance to where Martha and her mother couldn't hear them. Leaving the two of them to have a proper chat.

"Thank you," he told her gratefully. "That was a nice save. I was sure she was about to slap me."

"I think I saw her raising her hand," she grinned. Then suddenly her face fell and she groaned.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realised that we're going to have to keep that charade up for the rest of the night!" she told him. "God, I'm sorry, I really didn't think it through."

"It's fine, Rose," the Doctor laughed. "It's just acting right?"

"Yeah," she said. "And we usually get caught out by the end anyway… Hey, I bet you, you'll slip up before I do."

"Is that meant to be a challenge, Rose Tyler? Too easy. How about who ever can be the most convincing, for the longest. Including when there's no one else around. Until about… oh, one - two am?"

"You're on," she laughed. Neither of them noticed or even remembered that they hadn't put a price on the bet. "I'm a good actor. I'm so going to win this."

"We'll see about that," he grinned cockily. Quickly he leant down and pressed a kiss to her lips. He had been hoping to make her look obviously surprised. But he ended up being the one surprised when after barely a second's hesitation she was kissing him back. "Hmm… you _are_good at acting," he said breaking the kiss off. "I'm probably going to have to work harder."

Rose felt her stomach flutter. She didn't know if she would be able to handle it if he 'worked harder'… Then again, hopefully he would just think she was still acting and trying to out do him… Hopefully.

He pulled her closer into his side as the lights faded and the chatter around them ceased. A spot light fell on the old man, up by his machine as he tapped on a glass.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus," he introduced himself. "And tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom. The biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight you will watch and wonder. But tomorrow, you'll wake to a world which will be changed for ever."

The Doctor had a cautious, hard expression and Rose watched cautiously as the old man stepped into the sonic micro… cabinet… lets just call it a cabinet. A couple of technicians turned the machine on. It emitted a high pitch whirring noise and a glowed a blinding bright blue light as the four pillars began to spin around it.

The light was so bright and the energy field storm so strong that everyone had to cover their eyes. The Doctor was prepared to shield Rose even more if anything should happen. He was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open. But then, as to be expected, an alarm went off. He looked over at the technicians to see them moving about, worry on their faces.

"Something's wrong," he said. "It's overloading." When he saw the controls spark and explode he ran and jumped over the desk. He aimed the sonic at the controls.

"Somebody stop him!" Lady Thaw, one of the investors shouted.

"It's okay, he knows what he's doing," Rose told her.

"Get him away from the controls!" the old woman continued to shout.

"If this thing goes off, it'll take the whole building with it," the Doctor shouted back at her. "Is that what you want?" When nothing he was doing seemed to work, he jumped back over the desk and pulled out the main wires.

The spinning cabinet slowed down and came to a stop. The noises stopped and the light vanished. Rose and Martha bolted up to it, the Doctor not far behind them.

"Get it open!" he cried at them.

Quickly Rose heaved the door open and lots of smoke spilled out. They saw the figure of Professor Lazarus leaning weakly inside. But something was different. They watched as he staggered out, clutching heavily to the door's frame. There were gasps and murmurs as a blonde man in his thirties clambered out. Gently he touched his face, which lit up as he realised that his miracle had worked. The three time travellers stared at him in shock.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he called. "I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!" he shouted the last part to the heavens and held his arms up in triumph.

"He did it. He actually did it!" they heard Lady Thaw say delightedly, through everyone's cheers.

.

The two girls looked at Lazarus getting his photo taken, uneasily as the Doctor wearily studied the machine.

"It can't be the same guy. It's impossible," Martha said. "It must be a trick."

"Oh, it's not a trick," the Doctor told her. "I wish it were."

Rose, who had seen some pretty bizarre things before was still very shocked and confused. "What just happened, then?" she asked.

The Doctor looked back at Lazarus and his eyebrows rose. He reached out and slipped Rose's hand into his. Then came his simple reply. "He just changed what it means to be human."


	32. The Lazarus Experiment, Mutating

**Mutating**

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.

The Doctor continued to watch Lazarus warily for a while longer. He was thinking of the right time to intervene when he saw the man jerk and gasp in pain. Taking Rose's hand he walked forward, Martha following them. As they got closer he began scoffing food down ravenously.

"Richard!" Lady Thaw scolded him.

"I'm famished!" he wined, defending himself, managing to sound like a kid in the process.

"Energy deficit," the Doctor stated behind him. Lazarus spun round and looked at him in surprise. "Always happens with this kind of process."

"That explains Christmas," Rose muttered teasingly. He grinned, gave her a nudge and pulled her closer to his side. Martha looked at them in bewilderment.

"You speak as if you see this every day Mr…"

"Doctor," he told them. "And, well, no - not every day. But I have some experience in this kind of transformation."

"That's not possible," Lazarus said.

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance," he said, trying to steer the conversation away from him. "That's inspired." Beside him Rose gaffed when she remembered the time he had tried to resonate concrete with the sonic-screwdriver. The Doctor gave her an amused questioning look; she just shook her head with a smile on her face and a glint in her eye.

"You understand the theory, then."

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables," he responded seriously.

"No experiment is without risk," Lazarus said flippantly.

"That thing nearly exploded," he said incredulously as if he were talking to an idiot. The only thing that kept Rose from laughing at his expression was the seriousness of the conversation. "You may as well have stepped into a blender."

"You're not qualified to comment," Lady Thaw told him indignantly. See, now it was people like this that made Rose not want to be here. Feeling even more self-conscious she held tighter to the Doctor's arm.

"If I hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded," the Doctor used the same tone with the Lady.

"Then I thank you, Doctor," Lazarus said calmly. "But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was meant to happen. No more, no less."

"You have no way of knowing that until you run proper tests," Martha jumped in.

"Look at me!" Lazarus laughed. "You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need."

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially," Lady Thaw assured them.

"Commercially?" Rose cried aghast. "You're joking. That'll cause chaos!"

"Not chaos," Lazarus said. "Change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."

"This isn't about improving. It's about you and your customers living a little longer," the Doctor said harshly.

"Not a little longer, Doctor," Lazarus said, completely unaffected by the Doctors attitude. "A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely."

Rose had to suppress the shiver that ran down her spine. It was so wrong. It defied nature and was completely horrible and selfish… And yet, she couldn't quite quash the little bit of hope it gave her. Perhaps if they sorted out the kinks and it did run commercially… she really could give the Doctor forever…

No! No, it wasn't right! The Doctor would hate it. He would never allow her to do it. And for very good reason. But still, that little bit of hope…

"Richard, we have things to discuss," Lady Thaw interrupted her internal battle. "Upstairs." And she walked away. Lazarus made to follow.

"Goodbye, Doctor." Suddenly he turned back with a grin on his face. "In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were." He held out his hand for Martha to shake. But when she placed her hand in his, he bought it to his mouth and kissed it. Then finally, he left.

"Ooh, he is so out of his depth," the Doctor sighed. "He's no idea of the damage he might have done."

"So, what do we do now?" Rose asked him, still clinging to his arm like a limpet.

"Now…" he mused. "Well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests."

"Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then isn't it?" Martha said holding up the hand Lazarus had kissed.

"Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star," he grinned. And they all headed off to find a lab.

**?...DW…?**

Rose and the Doctor giggled at the personal joke. Their heads were so close together that Rose could feel his hot breath on her neck. It sent pleasant shivers up her spine. Martha was staring at them as if it was the weirdest thing she'd ever seen in her life… And considering all she'd seen in the last week…

"Okay guys," she laughed. "We're alone now. You can stop pretending to be engaged."

The 'couple' looked up, looking fairly surprised. "Oh," the Doctor said. "Um, yes…" He looked down at Rose. "Do you think we should tell her?"

"Yeah. Oh, but that might break the rules… Erm, five minute break?"

"Yip, starting now." The two of them had to mentally force themselves away from the other. But to Martha it just looked like and awkward step apart.

"Umm…" she said in confusion.

"We've got this little bet," the Doctor explained. "We realised we were going to have to pretend to be engaged for the rest of the night, so we figured we may as well have fun doing it."

"Most convincing for the longest," Rose added. "Slip ups are big no no's. And it counts even when there's no one else around. Goes till about… what did we say? Two am?" The Doctor nodded and Martha looked at the two of them in amused bewilderment.

"Right…" she said stretching the word out.

"Okay… five minutes are up," the Doctor said rather cutely. He took Rose's arm and pulled her back to him, placing the arm around his waist. Then he placed his arm around hers. Martha just continued to stare at them. That had _not_ been five minutes… more like two or three. She smiled a little and shook her head. Were they really _that_blind? Was it really that bad that they needed excuses? Did they realise that they really weren't acting? And did they realise that the only people they were actually fooling, was themselves?

A beep from the screen drew their attention and they all looked at the results of Lazarus's DNA. He whipped on his brainy specs and studied them for a moment.

"Amazing," he murmured.

"What?"

"Lazarus's DNA."

"I can't see anything different," Martha said.

"Look at it!" he cried pointing to the screen. The three of them only had to watch a second before the DNA strand changed right before their eyes. Rose and Martha blinked in surprise.

"Oh my god! Did that just change?" Martha cried. "But it can't have!"

"But it did," he countered.

"That's impossible."

"Well, that makes two impossible things we've seen tonight, yeah?" Rose said. "Don't you love it when that happens?"

"You have no idea," the Doctor grinned at her.

"But, that means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns," Martha said quietly.

"Hyper sonic sound waves to destabilise the cell stricture then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands. Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate."

"But they're still manipulating now."

"Because he missed something. Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilize. Something that's trying to change him…"

"Into what?" Rose asked warily.

"I dunno," he replied. "But I think we need to find out."

"That woman said they were going upstairs," Martha said quickly.

"Let's go!" he cried. He sprinted out of the room, making sure he didn't loose contact with Rose's soft skin.

.

After a few minutes of searching they came across a large spacious and grand room. A huge mahogany desk sat at the end.

"This is his office alright," Martha said, sounding a little bitter.

"So, where is he?"

"Dunno," she said looking around. "Let's try back at the re…caption…" her words faded out pathetically as she saw something that made her stomach heave. Just visible behind the desk was a horrid skeletal leg in fancy high-heals. When Rose was it she gasped in horror, her face blanched and she felt like she was going to be sick. She could handle disgusting aliens; she'd seen some pretty bad ones before. And she had seen dead people, it was horrible, and she would never get used to it. but a combination of the two - dead and disgusting - really set her on edge. She wanted to run from the room, sob and / or throw up… but she was stronger than that. S-she could handle it…

They walked around the desk to get a closer look. It was even worse. Dried mummified skin still stuck to the bones like a sick paper coat. The clothes looked familiar… they had seen someone wearing it not long ago.

"Is that Lady Thaw?" Rose asked, trying to stop her voice from shaking.

"Used to be," the Doctor said. "Now it's just a shell. Head the energy drained out. Like squeezing the juice out of an orange."

"Not helping!" she said.

"Sorry," he placed a kiss on her hand.

"Was it Lazarus?" Martha asked.

"Could be."

"So he's changed already."

"Not necessarily," he told her. "You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating. The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough."

"So he might do this again!" Rose said in alarm. The second they had walked through the doors she had instantly changed her mind about the machine. She was right in saying it was wrong.

"Mmm," he said. Rose didn't want to see a repeat of this. Ever. And the sooner they had sorted it out, the sooner she could forget about it. She pulled him up and the trio headed back to the elevator.

Back down in the main hall where everyone was partying on obliviously, the searched for the young looking old man in vain.

"I can't see him," Martha said after a while.

"He can't be far. Keep looking," the Doctor told the two girls. He and Rose carried on, but Martha was pulled over by her brother.

"Hey, you all right, Martha?" he asked her. "I think Mum wants to talk to you."

"Have you seen Lazarus anywhere?" she ignored what he ad said.

"Yeah," he replied. "He was getting cosy with Tish a couple of minutes ago."

"With Tish?" she cried in alarm. Rose and the Doctor were back at her side in a second.

"Where did they go?" the Doctor demanded, ignoring Martha's mother who was trying to get his attention.

"Upstairs, I think. Why?" He never got an answer because e before he knew it the three of them were running back to the elevator.

"I'm speaking to you!" the heard Martha's mother shouted at them.

"Not now, Mum!" Martha called back.

They went as fast as they could. The Doctor was bobbing impatiently as the elevator and Rose gently stoked his arm to calm him. She was enjoying to having to hold quite so much back. But even with all this 'bet' stuff, she was still on to it. She had seen what that machine could do, what it had made him do to another person. It was horrible and wrong and cruel.

And they couldn't let that happen to Martha's sister!


	33. The Lazarus Experiment, Monster

**Monster**

.

.

They burst into Lazarus's office to find it empty.

"Where are they?" Martha said, worry evident in her voice.

"Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature," the Doctor said whipping out the sonic-screwdriver. "I might be able to pick it up." He held the sonic out in front of him and slowly turned in a circle. As he turned the beeping it was emitting increased. "Got him!" he cried.

"Where?" Martha asked. The Doctor was pointing the sonic at the ceiling. "But this is the top floor! The roof!"

They didn't waste any more time. They just ran.

.

"And is it like you expected?" they heard Tish ask as they came out on the roof. The Doctor held out a hand to stop them revealing themselves. He didn't want to put Tish in danger by going out at the wrong moment.

"I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect," Lazarus replied. "There's always something to surprise you. 'Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act-"

"-Falls the shadow'," the Doctor finished the quote deciding now was probably the safest time to come out. With Rose still on his arm and Martha at his side, they stood before the man who was slowly becoming less than that.

"So the mysterious Doctor knows his Eliot," Lazarus said snidely. "I'm impressed." Rose glared at him.

"Martha, what are you doing here?" Tish said in annoyance.

"Tish, get away from him," Martha said, trying to stay calm.

"What? Don't tell me what to do."

"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy defying the laws of nature and everything," the Doctor said.

"You're right, Doctor," Lazarus smiled. "One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more would I get done in two or three or four?"

"Doesn't work like that," he shook his head sadly. "Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. My fiancé is only 21, but she's probably already lived and experienced more than you have. It's not the time that matters, it's the person." His voice had become increasingly tender.

"But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be."

"Or a curse," Rose told him quietly, her voice was little more than a whisper. "You've killed what you used to be. The man's gone. Look at what you've done to yourself."

"Who are you to judge me?" He snapped at Rose as if she were a stupid child. The Doctor held her protectively and growled.

"Over here, Tish," Martha tried to coax. Tish didn't come over because of the warning. Rather because she wanted to give her a piece of her mind. Martha didn't mind, as long as she was away from that monster.

"You have to spoil everything, don't you?" she snapped. "Every time I find someone nice, you have to try and find fault." Behind her Lazarus gasped and dropped to the ground.

"Tish, he's a monster!" Martha cried.

"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones."

They heard a low growl behind them and Tish slowly turned around. The four of them stood with wide eyes, staring in horror at the creature before them. It was large and ugly. It had Lazarus's deformed face, it was bony like a skeleton, and it had a body that resembled a skeletal scorpion. Hissing, it reared up.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted. They all dashed inside and the Doctor locked the door with the sonic. The girls were already calling for the elevator.

"Are you okay?" Martha asked Tish.

"I was going to snog him!" she whimpered in reply. There was a crash on the door and the lights dimmed as the automatic security protocol kicked in.

"What's happening?" Martha asked.

"An intrusion," Tish informed them. "It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits." There was another bag from up the stairs.

"He must be breaking through that door, "The Doctor said. "The stairs, come on!"

.

As they ran down the stairs they heard something metal crash open.

"He's inside!" Rose shouted stopping and looking back up the stairwell.

"We haven't got that much time," the Doctor shouted back, pulling on her arm.

Soon they sprinted out into reception where people were milling about in confusion.

"Tish, is there another way out of here?" he asked her.

"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now."

"Rose, hurry," he said pressing the sonic-screwdriver into her hand. He kissed her forehead and ran onto the platform. She, Martha and Tish ran to the door, she was already putting it on to setting 54.

"Listen to me!" the Doctor called to everyone. "You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"

A woman up the front laughed. "Don't be ridiculous!" she scoffed. "The biggest danger here is choking on an olive!"

She was proven wrong instantly when, with the sound of shattering glass, big beastly Lazarus appeared on the next level. He jumped over the stares and landed on the ground. People began screaming and ran for the exit where Rose was trying frantically to get the door open.

Three things happened at once. Lazarus sent a table flying and it hit Martha's brother, knocking him out a moment. Rose got the door open and started directing people down the stairs to the buildings exit. And Lazarus took his second victim, who was the woman who had laughed at the Doctor's warning only seconds ago. Then he turned for his next victims.

"Lazarus! Leave them alone!" the Doctor shouted as the creature moved towards Martha's mother and brother. Martha dashed in at the last second and pulled them out as Lazarus was distracted. "What's the point of you can't control it?" he taunted. "The mutations too strong. Killing those people wont help you. you're a fool! A vain old man who thought he could defy Nature. Only nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!"

It worked. The next thing he knew he was sprinting away from the reception room. Lazarus right on his tale. Leading him as far away from everyone else as he could get him.

**?...DW…?**

"What's the Doctor doing?" Rose cried in alarm, running over to join Martha and her family.

"He's trying to buy is some time," she replied. "Let's not waste it. And don't you dare try and follow him." Martha turned back to tend to her brother. "Leo, look at me. Focus on me. Let me see your eyes…" She turned to her mum. "Okay, he's got concussion. You'll need to help him downstairs." She grabbed a napkin and some ice from an ice bucket. She gave it to her mum. "This'll keep the swelling down. Go! We'll be right behind you! Tish, move! We need to get out of here." She turned to see Rose about to run after the Doctor. Quickly she grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Rose, I said _we_ need to get out of here." And with that she pulled her through the door.

.

The Doctor ran through many hall ways. He was starting to confuse himself a little. But as long as he somehow kept Lazarus away from people and somehow stopped him, he didn't mind. He kept running down the corridors and inside passages.

"It's no good, Doctor," Lazarus hissed. The voice came from nowhere, and floated all around him. "You can't stop me."

"Is that the same arrogance you had when you swore nothing had gone wrong with your device?" he shouted at nothing. Seeing a shadow he kept moving.

"The arrogance is yours. You can't stand in the way for progress."

"You call feeding on innocent people progress?" he called. "You're delusional!"

"It is a necessary sacrifice."

"That's not your decision to make," he growled. Then the lights came on. They had done it, he could have smiled… if it weren't for the fact that Lazarus was hanging right above him.

"Peek-a-boo," he hissed creepily.

"Oh… hello," he gulped.

Then he sprinted from the room. He ran through more corridor, until he came out into a lab. He locked the door - the normal way since Rose had his sonic-screwdriver - but he knew it wouldn't last long. But he soon had an idea… He didn't know whether it would work or not, but it was worth a try.

Quickly he jumped up on a desk and pulled the light off the wall, he fiddled around with it, switching the red wire so it was on the same notch as the blue. Then he started going around, turning on all the gas taps. He pulled out bunsen-burners and anything else that got in his way. When he heard the door crash open he ducked down and crawled behind the desks to turn the rest of the gas taps on.

"More hide and seek, Doctor? How disappointing," Lazarus jeered. "Why don't you come out and face me?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" he called out. His job done, he stood and looked straight at the hideous creature. "Why would I want to face that, hmm?"

Lazarus charged after him. He ran and flung open the doors, as he went he switched on the lights. He ran as fast as he could and dove, just missing the blast form the explosion he'd created.

**?...DW…?**

As Martha dragged Rose down the stairs, they saw people crowed around the door, trying unsuccessfully to get out. The doors were still locked and there was no way Rose would be able to get to the front of that crowd.

"We can't get out!" Tish said in panic. "We're trapped!"

"There must be an override switch," Rose said.

"Where's the security desk?" Martha asked. "Tish!"

"Right there," Tish pointed it out.

Rose ran over to the desk and slid over the top. She waved the sonic at the computer screens and then at the security system. Soon there was a bleep and the lights turned on. People were able to push the doors open and the panicked hoards flooded out of the building. She let out a relieved laugh.

She went over and joined Martha and her family as the last people were filing out of the doors.

"I've got to go back," she told them. They all looked at her aghast.

"Rose-"

"He's in danger, Martha," she cut her off. "I can't just leave him. I love him!"

After a moment Martha gave a firm nod. "I'm going too," she told her.

"You can't!" her mother cried in horror. "You saw what that thing did. She said it was dangerous. It'll kill you!" She took Martha's hands.

"I don't care," Martha told her. "They're my friends. I have to go." She slipped her hands out of her mothers grasp and ran up the stairs, catching up to Rose.

"Martha!" her mother shouted after her. But the two girls were already out of ear shot. They ran through the halls. They had no idea where he could be.

Just then they heard an explosion and rushed towards the noise. Rose was ahead of Martha, she wanted to get there as soon as she could. She had to know he was okay. As she ran around a corner she nearly ran past him. But they both reached out and managed to catch each other.

"What are you doing here?" he cried.

"Giving this back," she held the sonic-screwdriver out to him. "I know what you're like without it."

"How did you-?"

"I heard the explosion. Who else does explosions?"

"I blasted Lazarus," he told her.

"Did you kill him?" she asked.

Hearing a growl, he peered round the corner and saw Lazarus about to launch himself at them.

"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say." He grabbed her and pulled the two girls away. They ran as Lazarus charged after them.

.

They ran so much that Rose was starting to regret the heels. They were easy enough to run in, but there was no doubt her feet would be dead by the end of the night. Finally they found themselves back in the reception room.

"What now?" Martha cried. "We've just gone round in a circle!" Suddenly Lazarus burst around the corner.

"We can't lead him out side," the Doctor said, going over to the ageing-device and opening the door. "Come on, get in." The girls ran in and he followed, closing the door. They were packed in very tight. He tried to ignore the fact that Rose was so close to him that her body was pressed right up against him and he could feel her breath on his neck. Now wasn't the time to act on the bet, so he forced himself to repress the shiver of pleasure it gave him.

"Are we hiding?" she asked him, her head against his chest.

"No," he replied. "He knows we're here. But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."

"But we're trapped!" Martha's muffled voice came from somewhere just to his side, behind Rose.

"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem," he said.

"You mean you don't have a plan?" she cried. Rose could have laughed. He never really had full plans. Three seconds ones, yes. Most of the time he just tended to wing it. His reasoning was that he was brilliant at it, and that due to unforeseen circumstances, plans usually went wrong anyway.

"Yes," he said. "The plan was to get inside here."

"Then what?"

"Well… then I'd come up with another plan."

"In your own time, then," she snapped.

The Doctor was trying to think. But it was fair to say that he was somewhat distracted by the figure pressed up against him. He shook his head… First thing's first, he needed the sonic. He attempted to reach into his pocket. His face flooded with colour when he missed it entirely and his hand went right down Rose's top.

"Doctor, you can do that later. But fun as it may be, I don't think now's the best time," she said blushing too.

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "Trying to get my pocket."

"Excuses," she muttered teasingly as they tried to work around each other. Finally after some manoeuvring he got the sonic out of his pocket.

"Here we are," he said happily.

"What are you going to do with that?" Martha asked.

"Improvise," he told her. Then he slowly slinked down. Since it was so squished the only way down was to slide down Rose.

"Oh, if this wasn't such a dangerous situation…" she moaned. He grinned, knowing what she was meaning. Only for him, he was actually wishing it were true.

"I'm sure we can find a tiny cupboard in the TARDIS," he said going along with it. He heard Rose's breathing hitch and he smiled more… she really was good at acting.

"I'll hold you to that," she breathed.

"Whoa! Guys, still in the deadly machine. You can flirt when we're out and I'm not right beside you!" Martha cried. If there were room she would probably be blocking her ears. With the sonic the Doctor popped open a panel beneath their feet. "Look up and I'll kill you," she told him.

"Get us out of here and I'll _let_ you look up mine later," Rose carried on teasingly.

"And I'll hold you to _that_," he laughed. "Nice shoes, by the way."

"God, you two, really?" Martha complained.

"Sorry," Rose said unashamedly.

"I still don't understand where that thing came from," she said trying to steer them away from the flirting. "Is it alien?"

"No, for once it's strictly human in origin," the Doctor replied fiddling with things in the panel.

"Human?" Rose cried incredulously. "How can it be human?"

"Probably from dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. and it looks like they're becoming dominant."

"So it's a throw back."

"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in you're genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake."

"It's like Pandora's Box," Martha said.

"Exactly."

Suddenly there was a strange noise and the space around them lit up a bright blue.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Rose asked in alarm. She was afraid that she already knew the answer.

"Sounds like he's switched the machine on," he said.

"That's not good, is it?" Martha said.

"Well, I was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work out." He continued frantically with the cables.

"I don't want to hurry you, but-"

"I know, I know!" he cried. "Nearly done."

"What are you doing?" Rose asked.

"Trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it."

"Will that kill him?"

"When he transforms, he's three times his size - cellular triplication - so he's spreading himself thin," the Doctor avoided the question. He had no idea if this would work or not.

"We're going to end up like him!" Martha cried.

"Well, this is just bloody ironic!" Rose grumbled.

"Just one more!" the Doctor told them. He pulled out a plug and the energy field changed. Instead of pounding in on them, they heard it blast outside the capsule. Cautiously he stood and opened the door. The three of them toppled out.

"I thought we were going through the blender, then," Martha gasped.

"I've really got be more careful with what I wish for," Rose muttered.

"Really shouldn't take that long to reverse the polarity," the Doctor said looking back at the machine. "I must be out of practice." Then they turned and saw Lazarus lying naked on the ground, he appeared to be dead.

"Oh god," Martha whispered. "He seems so… human again. It's kind of pitiful…"

"Elliot saw that, too," the Doctor said sadly, taking Rose's hand in his. "'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper'."

"Well, it did actually end with a bang," Rose whispered. "But no one saw it… that's a whimper enough. I don't think there's anything that truly ends without one."


	34. The Lazarus Experiment, Lost Bet

**Lost Bet**

.

.

Soon ambulance medics were rushing in and looking over Lazarus. The Doctor tried as best as he could to explain what had happened. In the end the three of them walked out numbly, as the medics rolled Lazarus out in a body bag. The Doctor undid his tie with one hand, the other still held on to Rose's like he couldn't physically stand to let her go. If this had done anything other than destruction, it had reminded him how horribly fragile human life was.

"I'm never going to wear this suit again," his voice was barely a whisper.

"We'll have to find you something different for the wedding," Rose said quietly, a faint smile on her lips as she attempted to cheer him up. It worked a little. His lips curled up in a smile, but all she saw in his eyes was pain.

"She's here!" they heard Tish cry out as she ran over to Martha. "Oh, she's alright!" the girl looked like she couldn't embrace her sister soon enough.

"Ah, Mrs Jones," the Doctor said happily as he saw her striding over. Before he could say anything else, the woman brought her hand around and slapped him in the face.

"Mum! What are you doing?" Martha cried aghast.

"Always the mothers. Every time," he muttered rubbing his cheek. Rose caressed it gently and placed a kiss on it before she stepped in front of him protectively and glared at the woman in front of her.

"He's dangerous," she said with a hard voice. "I've heard things."

"What are you talking about?" Martha said, clearly appalled by her mother's behaviour.

"Look around you!" she cried. "Nothing but death and destruction!"

"How dare you!" Rose hissed, walking right up to the woman. Her voice started out lower than a whisper, but as she talked it came closer to a shout. "How _dare_ you say that about him. This isn't his fault! If we hadn't come here, then everyone in that building would have died after Lazarus switched that stupid machine on. If you're looking for someone to blame, then blame him. But don't you ever - and I mean _never_ - blame my Doctor! I've been with him a long time. I have seen him do so much good. And I know him well enough to know that he takes on the unnecessary guilt of every life lost or hurt in every disaster we face. And he doesn't deserve to carry that burden, because if it weren't for him, many of the survivors wouldn't have lived past the first few seconds."

As she had ranted on, she still held the same fierceness, but her voice had slowly filled with tenderness as she spoke of him. The Doctor stood staring at her with his mouth open. He had a feeling that at the moment she was not acting in the least. It almost made him smile to think that this was how she saw him. She was so kind and sweet, but he knew that when she was like this, she would speak nothing but the truth. She could see the good side to him, where he could see none at all. He hadn't thought it possible, but at that moment, he fell for her a little more.

"Now you are going to apologize to him, right now," Rose carried on, the venom poring back into her voice. "If you want to have another go at him, you're going to have to get through me. There's a reason why monsters run away from me Francine Jones. And _no__one_ touches my Doctor!" Rose stood before the woman, glaring.

Francine was standing there, shocked and wide eyed. There was no doubt that she had never been spoken to like that before… Hmm, Francine, somewhere at the back of her mind, she wondered how she knew that was her name. But at the moment she was too concentrated on protecting her Doctor… even if it was just from an angry woman.

Francine opened her mouth to apologise, but the Doctor never heard it, for at that moment there was a loud crash from just down the road. With out a seconds thought, he grabbed Rose's hand and they ran off towards the noise. They only just paused a second looking back to Martha who was just about to follow them. But her mother caught her arm to stop her. They couldn't stop, they had no time.

When they reached the ambulance, Martha and Tish had caught up to them. The four of them were greeted with the _lovely_ sight of the decayed husks of the medics.

"Lazarus," the Doctor breathed regretfully. "Back from the dead. I should have known, really." Rose placed a hand on his arm. He was doing it again, blaming himself when there was no need.

"Where's he gone?" Martha cried as the Doctor whipped out the sonic-screwdriver and scanned for him. After turning a full circle, it want long until the beeping increased.

"That way," he said pointing to an old gothic building beside them. "The church."

"Cathedral," Tish said, surprising them all with her quiet voice. They had quite forgotten she was there. "It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me."

.

With the sonic still held out, the Doctor led them into the cathedral. His face was hard and cold. Rose wanted nothing more than to reach up and smooth it away.

"Do you think he's in here?" Martha whispered.

"Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?" the Doctor replied. Without even a seconds, thought Rose knew that she wouldn't come to some creepy old church. If she didn't have the Doctor then she would run straight to the TARDIS. They were her sanctuary. Her home, the only place she could feel okay. She couldn't remember the last time that she was separate from both of them, and been happy at the same time.

Together they walked up the creepy dark isle until they came to the altar. Lazarus sat behind it in his human form, wrapped in nothing but a blanket, gasping for air. He looked up at them as the Doctor put the sonic-screwdriver back in his pocket. Slowly the Doctor began to walk around him.

"I came here before," Lazarus told them quietly. "A lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat there, just a child… the sounds of planes and bombs outside."

"The Blitz," the Doctor said, he now stood directly in front of the man. Rose closed her eyes. She could still remember the fear as she had hung from a barrage balloon, deadly planes flying around her as she slowly slipped to her death anyway.

"You've read about it."

"I was there."

"You're too young," Lazarus scoffed.

"So are you," he replied. Lazarus laughed in understanding, but the laugh became a gasp of agony as he tried to fight the mutation.

"In the morning the fires had died, and I was till alive," Lazarus continued his story. "I swore I'd never face death like that again." Rose watched as the Doctor continued to walk, looking up into the bell tower. She knew he was starting to form a plan. "So defenceless," Lazarus spat weakly. "I would arm myself, fight back… defeat it."

"That's what you were trying to today," the Doctor said.

"That's what I _did_ today," Lazarus retorted.

"What about the other people who died?"

"They were nothing," he gasped. "I changed the course of history."

"Any of them might have done too," the Doctor said angrily. "You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that." Rose felt like a stone had dropped in her stomach.

"No, Doctor," Lazarus smiled cruelly. "Avoiding death. That's being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fibre of being. I'm doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more… successful." He let out another groan as his body tried to change.

"Look at yourself. You're mutating. You have no control over it. You call that success?"

"I call it progress," he gasped, still trying to fight it. "I'm now more than I was. More than just an ordinary human." Rose shivered at Lazarus's words. They seemed… almost familiar. Like she'd heard them before. Like some sort of déjà vu.

"There's no such thing as an ordinary human," the Doctor almost smiled. Lazarus cried out again. His bones sounded as if they were snapping and the sound echoed off the walls around them. By now the Doctor's walking had taken him in a few full circles. He now stood right next to Rose.

"He's going to change again any minute," she whispered urgently.

"I know," he whispered back. "If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work." Rose nodded and stepped back. A plan of her own already forming. She vaguely understood what the Doctor was trying to do, and she knew just how to help.

"You're so sentimental, Doctor," Lazarus said. "Maybe you are older than you look."

"I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one," he replied in a quiet, tired, cold voice. "In the end you just get tired. Tired of the struggle. Tired of losing everyone that matters to you." He couldn't help his eyes flicking over to Rose, but she was looking sadly at the ground and didn't see. He knew that she was feeling his pain, and he wished that she weren't. She had done a lot to heal him. "Tired of watching everything turn to dust." He squatted down next to the man. "If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you end up alone."

"That's a price worth paying," he hissed.

"Is it?" the Doctor asked sadly. He now knew that this man had to be near completely heartless.

Lazarus gave a creepy bitter laugh that echoed around him. "And what about your beloved fiancé, Doctor?" he smirked. "She's young, very young. She's not like you is she? Would you shatter your love and break both of your hearts? Would you let her wither and die?"

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying to force down the anger and the pain. "I would rather watch her grow old and die than watch her become a monster like you," he whispered.

Lazarus laughed again. Then he jerked about as he nearly changed, yet again. "I will feed soon," he said.

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"You've not been able to stop me so far."

"Leave him, Lazarus!" Rose's loud voice bounced off the walls. She wanted him to stop taunting her Doctor… this was also the perfect chance to get him where the Doctor wanted. "He's old and bitter," she said. "I thought that you had a taste for fresher meat."

"Rose! No!" he cried. But she was already running down a passage. Martha and Tish were following. Lazarus chasing after them.

"Tish, what are you doing?" Martha cried.

"Keeping you out of trouble!" her sister replied.

"Rose, where are we going?" she asked as they sprinted up a spiral staircase.

"The bell tower. All the way to the top. We've got to lead him up," Rose told them.

They didn't stop running up the stairs until they heard an agonised scream.

"Did you hear that?" Martha asked. Rose paused and listened a second.

"He's changed again," she said. "Come on, keep moving. Quick!" And like that they were running again. The mutant Lazarus right behind them. But soon they were up as high as they could go. There was no where else to run but around the balcony that surrounded the bell. In the middle was a hole that went straight down to the ground.

"There's no where else to go! We're trapped!" Tish cried.

"This is where he said to bring him," Rose told them.

"Alright," Martha said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "So, we're not trapped. We're bait."

"Doctor! We're here!" Rose shouted down, hoping he could hear her. Then she turned back to the two sisters. "He knows what he's doing. We have to trust him."

"Well, he better do it fast," Martha whimpered. They watched as Lazarus clambered into the tower, blocking their only escape.

"Ladies," he hissed, trying to sound pleasant. Then he lashed out with his tail. Tish shrieked as it _just_ missed her and nearly sent her flying over the edge.

From below them the sound of the organ drifted up. It was loud, but it wasn't enough. Rose knew that he was trying to get the right kind of hypersonic wavelengths, just like Lazarus had. It may have the reverse effect… hopefully.

Lazarus continued to lash his tail around. Martha screamed as he missed her and smashed off the railing just in front of her. As his tail whipped back, it hit her head and with another scream, she toppled down the hole.

"Martha!" Rose and Tish shrieked at the same time. Martha managed to grab a lower part of the railing, but Lazarus was getting closer to her.

"Get away from her!" Tish shouted. Rose dived over, ignoring the creature and reached for Martha's hands, just as she was about to slip. But she wasn't strong enough to pull her up. And Lazarus was still advancing.

Below them the music got louder. It reverberated around them and echoed off the bell, making it shake from the sheer power of the sound. Tish instantly put her hands to her ears as it became painfully loud. Rose and Martha, who were clinging to each other for dear life screamed in pain as the sound assaulted their ear drums. If either of them let go, Martha would fall.

Lazarus shrieked and jerked about. Unable to block out the noise as it had a horrible effect on him. Then he fell and toppled over the balcony, nearly taking Martha with him. But Tish dived over and grabbed Martha's hand too. There was a loud crash as Lazarus hit the ground and the organ stopped playing.

Now with two people, they were able to pull her up to safely. The three girls curled up against the rail as far from the hole as they could. They clung together, gasping for air as they let the panic subside.

"Rose?" the Doctor's worried voice called up to them. "Martha?"

"I'm okay!" Rose called down. "We're all okay!" A slightly hysterical laugh escaped her lips. They had done it! Smiling, she stood and helped the other two up. Then, with shaky legs, they made their way back down.

.

Below them the Doctor walked over to Lazarus's body. He knew he was truly dead this time. He wasn't just a man anymore, he was the old man that he had been earlier that night. He had died the way he should have - as an old man. The Doctor only whished that it had been natural causes that had done it… not him. Sadly, he brushed his hand across the old man's face, closing his eyes… stopping the blank, accusing, dead stare.

Then he heard a door clang open and he sprinted towards the sound. Rose was running towards him and he met her half way, swooping her up in his arms. He pressed a quick relieved kiss to her lips and pulled her to him, tight.

"I didn't know you could play!" Martha said walking up behind them.

Smiling, the Doctor put Rose down and placed her beside him, not loosing contact with her. "Oh, well, you know," he said. "If you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up."

"Hmm, especially about playing loud," Martha laughed. But with his ears still ringing he didn't catch much of that sentence.

"Sorry?" he said pressing a hand to his ear. Rose and Martha looked at each other in amusement for a second, and then burst out laughing.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS. They stood together in Martha's lounge leaning against the blue police box.

"Something else that just kind of escalated, then," the Doctor sighed.

"I can see a pattern developing," Martha smiled. "You should take more care in the future… And the past. And whatever other time period you find yourself in."

"Good fun though, yeah?" Rose grinned.

"Yeah," Martha agreed.

"So, what do you say?" the Doctor said grinning as much as his 'fiancé'. "One more trip?"

Martha smiled at him sadly. "No. Sorry," she said.

"What do you mean?" he said in surprise. "I thought you liked it."

"I do, but I can't go on like this. 'One more trip'. It's not fair."

"What are you talking about?" he said.

"I don't want to be just a passenger anymore," Martha told him. "Someone you take along for a treat. If that's how you still see me, well, I'd rather stay here."

Rose elbowed him gently in the gut. "Okay, then," he said. "If that's what you want."

"Right," Martha said, sounding upset. "Well, we've already said goodbye one today, so it's really best if you just go." She walked away from them, keeping her back to the TARDIS. Rose began to giggle.

"What is it?" she said turning back to them.

"Well, I said oaky," the Doctor told her.

"Sorry?"

"Oaky." He punctuated this by nodding towards his ship.

Martha's face lit up and she ran at them. "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" She cried hugging them both.

Rose grinned at her, her tongue poking between her teeth. "Well, you were never really just a passenger, were you?" she laughed. And with that, they all stepped into the TARDIS.

**?...DW…?**

Rose and the Doctor sat curled together on the couch in the Library. They were both exhausted, but sleep just wouldn't come… plus they still had the bet. They had showed Martha to a room and left her to pack some bags and move in. They'd lost count of how long ago that was now.

"So, you can't sleep?" the Doctor said, absentmindedly stroking her hair.

"No, adrenalin or something like that," she replied. She was still in her dress but she had taken her shoes off and was trying to rub them back to life.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing what she was doing.

"Yeah, my feet are just dead. Remind me never to run that much in heels ever again."

"Right," he said. Then he picked up her feet and flipped her around so her head was on the arm rest and her feet on his lap. He looked at her cheekily, then lifted up her skirt and peered under. Her mouth fell open in shock. "What?" he laughed. "You said I could do it later!"

"Right," she grinned. "And you still owe me some time in that tiny cupboard."

"Of course," he replied. "You know me and my oral fixations." Rose was so surprised that she ended up having a small coughing fit. The Doctor was grinning and laughing at her. Then he started to massage her feet and everything else was forgotten.

"Oh god! Your fingers are magic!" she moaned in pleasure. Her face instantly reddened as she remembered some dreams where she had said the same thing. Only he had been doing something much more 'M' rated with them at the time. "If this is the treatment I'm going to get, we can get married tomorrow," she sighed. The Doctor laughed softly.

.

It could have been minutes or hours later of bantering while the Doctor massaged her feet. But eventually Martha popped her head in yawning.

"Oh, there you are," she said sleepily. She took in the scene before her and laughed. "You do know that it about…" she looked at her watch which was accurate to Earth time. "Four am. Your bet finished two hours ago."

The couple looked at each other in surprise.

"Does that mean the massage stops?" Rose asked, sighing sleepily. "Because I'm really enjoying this." The Doctor chuckled at his companion.

"So who won?" Martha asked.

The Doctor looked up at her. "We'll tell you later when we figure it out," he smiled.

Martha laughed, and then left the two of them alone again. The Doctor looked over at Rose who was already half asleep on the other side of the couch.

"Come on," he said. "Time to get you to bed."

"Noooo!" she complained sleepily. She sat up, only to flop back the other way and land on him. She snuggled back down, comfy and content. "I'm not tired!" He chuckled at her again. She looked so adorable, and he doubted she even knew what she was saying. "So who _did_ win?" she asked.

It took him a while to answer, because he suddenly remembered something. "I don't think it really matters," he said. "We forgot to put a price on it."

"Oh well," Rose yawned, her voice just a murmur. "I think that both of us did." She reached an arm across and cuddled into him. Less than a second later she was asleep. The Doctor looked down at her in surprise.

It was then that he realised, like him, Rose hadn't been acting tonight. He realised that she was in love with him. Just as he was in love with her.

He ran his hands over his face, pulling his skin taut. What, for the love of Gallifrey, was he supposed to do? This day had only proved how quickly she could be ripped from his life. Lazarus's taunting words still echoed in his ears. No, he couldn't stand to sit by and watch her wither and die. It would break his hearts. There was a reason why he hadn't loved anyone the way he loved her in a very long time.

But he couldn't help it. This silly, beautiful human being stumbled into his life and made his dark world glow like sunlight… And there was nothing he could do about it.

.

Sighing heavily, he unwrapped Rose from around his waist, stood and picked her up. He carried her all the way to her room where he placed her under the sheets. He smiled sadly as he brushed her hair from her face and gave her one last gentle kiss.

Then he headed out of the room. He leaned his head against the door after he closed it, trying to force himself to breath. He looked up when he heard another door open.

"So, did you decide who won?" Martha said, popping her head out of her bedroom door.

The Doctor only looked at her sadly. "No one," he murmured emptily. Then without looking back at Martha, or at Rose's closed door, he walked across the hall to his room. He ignored all the rich colours that usual brought him some cheer. He didn't even bother to change.

He just flopped down on his large bed… And silently mourned the loss of something that could never be his.

.

.

.

_**Gah! Oh My Big Friendly Giant! It was so hard to write this last part! (Figuratively of course. In reality my fingers were typing faster than ever. I just couldn't get it all down fast enough because my brain was running faster than my fingers.) If there's something I have a soft spot for, more than realistic fluff, it's scenes like the last few paragraphs!**_

_**Yeah, so this is where things start getting really bumpy. They're up, they're down, they're every which way! They're on a friggen alien anti-grav rollercoaster! And yes, Rose is still oblivious. Thankfully now the Doctor isn't… not that that helps much. So much for banging their heads together, right DTSTTF? - ()**_

_**Any who. Next we have 42! Let's hope I can take another 'not so favourite' and turn it into a BRILLIANT story like you all say this one was!**_

_**Thank you for all your amazing reviews and I hope to hear more very soon!**_

_**So please review! And keep an eye out for my next update!**_


	35. 42, Screaming

_**And 42!**_

_**Okay, as I've been writing this I realise that I may have dug myself a little bit of a hole. I've started revealing things to the Doctor that he shouldn't know for a while longer. Oh well, I usually make it work. And he's hyper and easily distractible.**_

_**Yeah, that's it! Rose can distract him by taking him to a banana split place! So if it's lacking in description at the end as to why he's not doing anything… Rose knows him too well!**_

_**Lot's of people wanted me to have Rose possessed in this one. I think it's a really cool idea, but then there's the problem of the fact that they die when they get possessed… except the Doctor because he has superior Time Lord DNA. But don't worry - I think I might have something better.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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***42***

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**Screaming**

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"Seriously?" Martha laughed. "A swimming pool! A swimming pool in the library!"

"Well, it has a couch and a fireplace too," Rose defended the amazing seven storied room.

"So, that's the library, the media room, the study that only the Doctor is allowed in… that you tend to go in anyway, the kitchen, the games room that hardly ever gets used, the oxygen forest that you use as a park, the infirmary, the lab and the wardrobe… What's next?"

"Those are pretty much the important ones," Rose told her. "The TARDIS has hundreds of rooms for anything. We can create a new one whenever we want."

"So it just keeps growing?" Martha asked.

"Yup!" she popped the 'p' like the Doctor usually does. "Oh, and if you haven't figured it out by now…" They were now back in the corridor that led to their rooms. "You know that your room's at the end of the corridor. This is my room," she pointed to the door next to her. "And this is the Doctor's," she pointed the door directly opposite hers. "I don't even know why he has it. I've never seen him in it. He _does_ sleep, just not as much as we do. He gets maybe a few hours every night. But yeah, nearly two and a half years living here and I've never once seen him go in or out of it."

"Well, I saw him go in just last night," Martha told her.

"What?" Rose cried in surprise.

"Yeah… you must have conked out or something because he carried you to your room and then went into his."

"Oh, good. So I didn't sleep walk," she giggled.

"What did you two say last night?" Martha asked. "I mean, he looked so sad."

"He - he did?" she said in confusion. "I don't know why. The last thing I remember is trying to tell him I wasn't tired. Maybe we said something about the bet, I can't remember, I was half asleep." She sighed and Martha smiled at her sadly. She had enjoyed the way she was able to act around him last night. Too bad it was over. "Anyway, we should get back."

Forcing a smile on her face, Rose led Martha back to the console room. There, the Doctor was pointing the sonic-screwdriver at Martha's cellphone.

"Hmm," she giggled. "Your jiggery-pokery has changed since you did my phone."

"Yeah, well, this way's easier, albeit a bit longer," he smiled at her. She wondered what Martha had meant by him looking sad. He was fine! "There we go," he chucked the phone back to Martha. "Universal Roaming. Never have to worry about signal again."

"No way!" she cried. "But it's too mad! You're telling me I can call anywhere in space and time on my mobile?"

"As long as you know the area code," he told her. Martha just looked at him, stunned. "Frequent Fliers' privilege," he grinned. "Go on. Try it." Smiling she went to dial, but before she could even press a button, the TARDIS lurched and an alarm went off. "Distress signal! Locking on!" he cried. He used his foot to activate a switch. "Might be a bit of-" another jolt cut him off, throwing them all to the ground. Then they were still, no longer moving. They had arrived. "-Turbulence. Sorry," he said as they all popped their heads above the console. Smiling, he jumped up and ran to the door. "Come on, you two, let's take a look!"

.

The girls smiled at each other, then picked themselves up and ran after him. When they stepped out, they found themselves in some sort of room. It was lit dimly with red lights and steam rose up around them. It was sweltering.

"Whoa! Now that's hot!" the Doctor said.

"It's like a sauna in here!" Rose said, glad that she had chosen to wear shorts today. Beside her Martha took off her cardi and looked regretfully down at her jeans. The Doctor looked about at the equipment.

"Venting systems," he stated. "Working at full pelt. Trying to cool down… uh, wherever it is we are. Well, if you can't stand the heat…" he walked over and opened a heavy-duty door and walked through. The girls followed him. "Well, that's better," he said when they found it was much cooler out here.

Suddenly three people - two men and a woman - came running at them, shouting at them to get out of the room they were walking out of. The three time travellers stood there stunned and confused.

"Seal that door, now!" one of them cried. He rushed forward and closed it behind them, locking the TARDIS in the other room.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing on my ship?"

"Are you police?" one of the guys asked cautiously.

"Why would we be police?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, we did arrive in a Police Box," Rose pointed out. "We got your distress signal." She began to look around, and scrunched her eyes up when her head started to hurt. It was like something was trying to break in.

"Hang on," the Doctor said. "If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?"

"It went dead four minutes ago," the woman told him.

"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to engineering. Captain," the man who had shut the door nearly spat out the title. The woman glared at him.

'_Secure__Closure__active_,' a computerised voice announced.

"What?" the Captain cried spinning around.

"The ship's gone mad!" the rude guy cried. They all turned to see a young woman running down the corridor. She was only just making it through as doors slammed shut behind her. - Everyone except Rose, who was silently staring out of a window.

"Who activated Secure Closure?" the girl asked. "I nearly got locked in area 27." She looked at the new strangers. "Who are you?"

"He's the Doctor, I'm Martha, and that's Rose," she pointed to each in turn. She noticed that Rose hadn't moved in a long time, and distractedly she moved to join her by the window. The first thing that she noticed was that Rose's hands were shaking so much she looked like she could be having a seizure. But the rest of her body stayed still as stone.

"Hello," the Doctor grinned, not noticing what was happening between his two companions.

'_Impact__projection:__42__minutes,__'_ the computer told them.

"We'll get out of this," the captain told them quickly. "I promise."

"Doctor…" Martha said shakily. There were so many things to be worried about right now. A) the sight out the window. B) Rose's eyes had started to glow gold…

"Forty-two minutes until what?" he asked, not noticing Martha.

"Doctor, look!" Martha cried. The Doctor rushed to her side and looked out the window. He was met by the sight of a large burning hot sun getting closer and closer.

"Forty-two minutes until we crash into the sun," the Captain said quietly.

.

Without even looking at anything else, the Doctor sprinted back towards the Captain. Martha was surprised he hadn't even noticed anything wrong with Rose.

"How many crew members on board?" he asked.

"Seven including us," she told him.

"We transport cargo across the galaxy," the rude guy said. "Everything's automated. We just keep the ship…"

"Call the others, I'll get you out," he told them. Then he ran back to the room with the TARDIS. The crew began to protest as he tried to open the door. It clunked and he pulled open the heavy-duty door… only to be blown back by a burst of steam. He stumbled and fell backwards as members of the crew dived to close the door again.

"Doctor!" Martha cried in panic. At first he thought she was worried about him. But as he got up he saw she was more concerned with Rose.

"But my ships in there!" he cried as they locked it. He jumped up.

"What? In the vent chamber?" the first guy said disbelievingly.

"It's our life boat!" he told them.

"It's lava," the rude guy said.

By the door, the younger woman was reading off the gauges. "The temperature's going mad in there!" she told them. "Up 3,000 degrees in ten seconds, and still rising."

"Channelling the air," the first guy said. "The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get."

"Doctor!" Martha cried again more urgently, she sounded even more panicked than before. He looked over to ask her what was wrong, and his hearts dropped into his stomach.

Rose was doubled over, clutching her head. Her whimpers were steadily becoming squeals of pain.

"Rose!" he cried rushing over to her.

"Doctor, her eyes…" Martha whispered fearfully.

With fear gnawing away at him, he lifted Rose's chin so he could look in her eyes. They were her usual beautiful dark hazel. His sigh of relief that they weren't gold was stopped short when he saw the anguish in them.

"Oh god, it hurts," she gasped. "It's screaming. In my head, I can hear it. It's burning! It's screaming. It's screaming, it won't stop. And it's all your fault!" she shouted the last part towards the crew. The crew all looked at her in bewilderment.

The Doctor held onto her shoulders. Worry etched across his face as she continued to mutter about screaming. Soon the whimpering and her breathing quietened down. He knew she was no longer in pain. But her hands were stayed firmly over her ears, as if that could block out whatever she was hearing.

"We… we have to go," she stuttered. "Now."

"We can't," the told her. "The room we landed in is a vent. It's well over 3,000 degrees in there. Are you okay?" She nodded weakly, not trusting her voice.

"So, we're stuck here," Martha said in contempt.

"So?" he said, forcing himself to forget about Rose and worry about the potentially life threatening problem at hand. She seemed alright for now, but he was defiantly going to ask her what had happened, later. "We fix the engine, we steer the ship away from the sun! Simple! Engineering down here, is it?" he asked the crew. He motioned for Martha to follow, and grabbed Rose's hand, then they ran off down the corridor. He knew something was wrong with Rose, and he wasn't going to let her out of his sight.

**?...DW…?**

'_Impact__in__40.26,_' the computer stated.

.

They followed the captain and the rest of the crew the rest of the way. When they reached their destination, however, they all stopped in shock. The doctor looked about in bemusement at the disaster before him.

"Blimey!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Do you always leave things in such a mess?"

"Oh my god!" the Captain cried. As they had been running she had introduced herself as Kath McDonnell. The rude guy was Scannell. The other guy was Riley. And the young woman was Erina.

"What the hell happened?" Scannell said.

"Oh, it's wrecked," Riley said, surveying the damage.

"Pretty efficiently too," the Doctor told them. "Someone knew what they were doing." He went over to a computer that was hidden amongst the wreckage.

"Where's Korwin?" McDonnell said in concern. "Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?"

"No."

In a flash she was over by the intercom. "Korwin? Ashton? Where are you?" There was no response. "Korwin, can you answer?" Still no reply. She ran away from the intercom, clearly worried. "Where the hell is he? He should be up here!"

"You mean someone did this on purpose?" Martha said.

"Not someone," Rose hissed in a low voice, only Martha heard her. "Not anymore."

"What-?"

"Oh!" the Doctor cried delightedly, cutting her off. He had put his specs on while they had been talking. "We're in the Toragy system! Lovely! You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away."

"Yeah, feels it," she said sarcastically. She cast an anxious glance at Rose. Rose would usually have laughed at that or had some funny retort or comment, or even a word of comfort. But at the moment she was standing there quietly, her eyes downcast. She seemed oddly out of character. And if it was scaring her, it was clearly scaring the Doctor… if he wasn't too busy trying to save the ship.

But she looked far off and haunted. As if she could hear what ever it was she had heard earlier. Martha had a feeling that she was trying to downplay how bad it really was. She remembered the last time that she had seen her eyes glow gold, how fast she had shrugged it off, telling her to forget about it. And later when she had gone to tell the Doctor about it, Rose had cut her off, like she didn't want him to know…

.

"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion?" the Doctor's voice broke her out of her reverie. "Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" the crew looked at each other somewhat guiltily. Riley looked at McDonnell sternly.

"We're due to upgrade next docking," she said. She walked away from the Doctor and began calling orders. "Scannell, engine report."

Everyone watched anxiously over Scannell's shoulder as he checked the computer. "No response," the said in frustration. He headed over to look at the wrecked engine.

"What?" McDonnell called.

"They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online."

"Oh, come on, auxiliary engines!" the Doctor cried. "Every craft's got auxiliaries!"

"We don't have access from here," McDonnell told him. "The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."

"Yeah, with 29 password sealed doors between us and them," Scannell said pessimistically. "You'll never get there in time.

"Oh, come on!" Rose cried. "I have something screaming in agony inside my head, and I'm more optimistic than you!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something to that, but Martha cut him off. "Can't you override the doors?" she tried to distract him for her. If Rose didn't want him to know, she must have her reasons.

"No. 'Sealed Closure' means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed."

"So a sonic-screwdriver's no use…" the Doctor said dejectedly. For the moment he was distracted, trying to think of a way through.

"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance," Scannell snapped.

"Oh, listen to you!" the Doctor cried, agreeing with Rose on the pessimism. "Defeated before you've even started! Where's your Dunkirk spirit?" he turned to the captain. "Who's got the door passwords?"

"They're randomly generated," Riley told them. "Reckon I know most of them." He stood there grinning.

"Then what are you waiting for, Riley? Get on it!"

"Well, it's a two person job," he said. Her ran over to the wall and took down a huge backpack and clamp. "One, takes this," he put the pack on, "to answer the questions. And the other to carry this," he held up the clamp. "The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh captain?"

"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh Riley?" she replied. He pulled a hurt face at her.

"Try and be helpful and I get abuse. Nice!"

"I'll help you," Martha said, taking the clamp from him. "Make myself useful." And give her a little longer to sneak a few more looks at that damn fine ass of his.

"It's remote controlled by computer panel. That's why it needs two," he told her. Then they turned away and headed for one of the doors.

"Oi," the Doctor called to her. She turned back to face him. "Be careful," he told her.

"You too," she smiled. "Both of you." And with one last worried glance at the still too quiet Rose, she followed Riley out of the room.


	36. 42, Infected

**Infected**

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.

"McDonnell?" A voice called over the intercom. "It's Ashton."

Her eyes widened and she ran over to the intercom panel. "Where are you?" she asked. "Is Korwin with you?"

"Get up to the med centre _now_!" he said seriously. McDonnell turned and sprinted from the room, a sacred look in her eyes. The Doctor grabbed Rose and they followed after her.

.

'_Impact__in__34.31._'

.

As they got closer to the med centre, they heard a man crying out in agony. McDonnell put on a burst of speed and rushed into the room.

"Korwin!" she cried. "What's happened? Is he okay?"

As they stood at the foot of the bed they saw that the man on the table was _not_ okay. He was thrashing about, his body wracked with tremors. He was groaning and screaming. Beside the Doctor, Rose gasped and took a step back, as if her proximity to the man was causing her pain.

"Oh god!" he shrieked. "Help me! It's burning me!" The Doctor looked cautiously at Rose out of the corner of his eye. He was very aware of her movements and how she shielded away from the man. And what he had just said, 'it's burning me', Rose had said something like that too. What if, what ever was happening to him was happening to Rose too? What if, soon, Rose would be lying on the ground screaming in agony too? The thought made him shiver.

"How long has he been like this?" he asked, sounding slightly panicked.

"Ashton just bought him in," said the woman who must be their medic. She was struggling to keep the thrashing man on the table. He got out the sonic-screwdriver and scanned Korwin as he gave another shriek of pain.

"What are you doing?" McDonnell cried.

"Don't get too close," he warned. She, of course, ignored him and pushed Ashton out of her way so she could be at the head of the bed.

"Don't be stupid. He's my husband!" she cried.

"And he's just sabotaged our ship!" Ashton told her.

"What?" she cried aghast, turning to face him.

"He went mad. He set the ship to Secure Closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls."

"No way! He wouldn't do that!" she said angrily, struggling to keep her husband down.

"I saw it happen, Captain."

"Korwin?" the Doctor cut them off, his scan complete. "Korwin, open your eyes for me a second."

"I can't!" he cried in pain.

"Yeah, course you can. Go on."

"Don't make me look at you! Please!" Korwin begged. He screamed again. His eyes were screwed up tight, but he opened them ever so slightly for a millisecond. Only Rose and Ashton saw the bright gold light burning through them.

"Alright, alright, alight. Just relax," the Doctor soothed. He moved down the end of the bed and grabbed some sort of syringe gun. "Sedative?" he asked the medic.

"Yes," she replied. Nodding, he pressed it to Korwin's neck, and with a final cry, he fell limp. Everyone relaxed, seemingly still after having to struggle with him for so long. The Doctor placed the sedative on the tray and looked warily at Rose; she was staring blankly at Korwin, tears threatening to spill over. Her arms were wrapped around herself protectively, like and insecure child, her head was moving back and forth in a horrified shake. He had never seen her so venerable. The sight made him go weak, he wanted to go over and hold her. But, unfortunately, there were more pressing matters at hand… At least, that's what he tried to convince himself. Because in his mind, nothing was more important than Rose.

"What's wrong with him?" McDonnell asked him, making him look away from Rose. He perched himself on the edge of the bed.

"Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings…" looking up he saw a stasis chamber behind the bed. "Stasis chamber. I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature," he ordered. The medic looked at him questioningly, but still did what he said. Watching her, his throat contracted as his over active imagination saw her doing that to an unconscious Rose. He shook his head to clear the unwanted thoughts away, and moved closer to the woman. "And just for fun, run a bio-scan, a tissue profile and, a metabolic detail."

"Just doing them now," she told him.

"Ooh! You're good," he said happily. "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?" It took all he had not to turn around and look at Rose.

"Not so far," she replied.

"Well, that's something."

"Would someone tell me what is the matter with him?" McDonnell cried desperately.

"Some sort of infection," he told her. "We'll know more after the test results. Now, Allons-y! Back downstairs, eh? See about those engines. Go." He waved them off. Ashton walked out the door, but McDonnell stood there, refusing to leave her husbands side. "Hey!" he called to her. She looked at him and his voice became gentler. "Go." Reluctantly she left and headed out the door. He turned back to the medic. "Call us if there's any news." Then he gently unfolded Rose's arms away from her body, took her hand and led her from the room. Quickly he popped his head back. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," she almost scoffed. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor." He grinned down at Rose, happy to see a small smile on her face, and they ran to catch up with the others.

**?...DW…?**

'_Heat__shields__failing__at__%25,_' the computer informed them. '_Impact__in__32.50.__'_

.

They had been looking at the engines for a while now, with no such luck. And they didn't know how much closer to the front of the ship Martha and Riley were. He could only just concentrate. His mind kept drifting back to Rose - who was still unusually quiet, though much happier and less haunted - and worried if she had the same symptoms as Korwin. He had to find out the results of those tests immediately.

"What's your medic's name?" he asked McDonnell.

"Abi Learner."

He strode over to the intercom and spoke into it. "Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results form the bio-scan?"

"He's under heavy sedation," her somewhat flustered response came over the radio. "I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know."

"Alright," he said. With that sorted he switched channels so he was contacting anyone in the corridors. "Martha? Riley? How're you doing?" he asked urgently.

"Area twenty-nine, at door twenty-eight," came her response.

"You've got to move faster," he told her, putting on his specs so he could get a better look at the screen in front of him.

"We're dong our best!" Martha said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Find the next number in the sequence," he heard Riley say. "313, 331, 367… What?"

"You said the crew knew all the answers," Martha said to him.

"The crew's changed since we set the questions."

"You're joking."

"379!" he interrupted them.

"What?" Martha cried.

"It's a sequence of happy primes. 379."

"Happy what?"

"Just enter it!" he cried. They really didn't have time for this.

"Are you sure?" Riley asked him. "We only get one chance."

The Doctor held back a groan of irritation. They _really_ didn't have time for this. He began speaking fast, trying to get it all out in less than a second. "Any number which reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one, is a happy prime number. Any number that doesn't isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime. Now type it in!" He looked over at Rose who was standing there awkwardly, looking exhausted and hot, a small smile on her face as she watched him. "I dunno, talk about dumbing down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" At this she let out the first genuine laugh he'd heard from her since last night.

"We're through!" Martha called down the intercom to him.

"Keep moving, as fast as you can," he told her. Then his voice became softer. "And, Martha, be careful. There may be something else on board this ship." He saw Rose's face fall and she shuddered involuntarily.

"Any time you wanna unnerve me, feel free!"

"Will do, thanks," he said happily. He switched off the intercom and headed back to the others. He gave Rose a reassuring smile. Internally he was panicking and worried about her. He wanted to stay glued to her side, make sure she was okay and pay her every second of attention he had. But she was already looking so scared; he didn't want to panic her further. Because if he was panicking, she would know that it couldn't be good.

.

'_Impact__in__30.50.__'_

.

The Doctor looked down at the mangled equipment in his hands. "We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines on time," he said more to himself than anyone. "Come on! Think! Resources, what have we got?" he said the last part to the crew, but before anyone could reply, Martha spoke over the intercom again.

"Doctor?"

"What is it now?" he asked. He sounded frustrated and annoyed. He felt a little guilty for talking to her that way, but he couldn't help it and didn't have time to worry about it either.

"Who had the most number ones? Elvis or the Beatles - that's pre-download."

"Elvis," he said confidently. But then a doubt formed in his mind. "No! The Beatles! No, wait! Um… Um…" he stared slapping the back of his head, trying to remember. "Ugh! What was that remix? Um… I don't know, I'm a bit busy!"

"Fine. I'll ask someone else!" she sounded put out.

"It's Elvis," Rose suddenly piped up. Her voice held its usual confidence. "Trust me. Mum used to love the both of them. She knew nearly every single fact about them. It's Elvis."

"Right," the Doctor grinned. "Can't argue with Jackie Tyler. Elvis it is."

"Thanks, go it!" Martha told them.

He grinned at Rose; she just stared back at him incredulously. "What?" he asked.

"'Can't argue with Jackie Tyler'?" she said disbelievingly. "That's all you ever did with her!"

"Yes, well, your mother scares me more than an army of Daleks," he said nervously. "If someone asked me if I would like to be slapped by Jackie or shot by a Dalek… I would rather face the Dalek. Your mother is terrifying!"

Rose grinned so widely that even her tongue made an appearance. She laughed loudly and he was almost relieved at the sound. Then her smile became a sad one, her face soft. She slipped her hand into his.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?"

"For speaking about her in present tense. I needed that." Suddenly she winced in pain and her hand yanked out of his to hold her head.

"Rose?" he said in concern.

"I'm fine, just a headache." She wasn't going to mention the fact that it felt like her head was on fire. Nor that what ever had tried to invade her mind earlier was still screaming in her head. Or even that what ever it was, was still trying to get in. She could feel it pushing at her subconscious, feeding her its pain. What ever it was, it was _very_ strong. But there was something holding it back. Another presence in her mind. It was protecting her mind and keeping her safe, pushing the other consciousness back and holding off the pain. But every now and then, a little bit of the fire would slip through. She could feel her energy slowly draining away.

"Okay," the Doctor said to her quietly. He didn't truly believe that she was as fine as she said she was. He knew it was something more than a headache. But unfortunately, now wasn't the time to deal with it. He would have to wait till they were back in the TARDIS to make sure she was okay, with proper tests and everything. "Now, where was I?" he said turning back to the crew. "Here comes the sun," he grinned. Oh, no, that wasn't right. That was an oddly appropriate title to a Beatles song… "No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that… Ah!

"Use the generator to jumpstart the ship," McDonnell clicked on to what he was saying.

"Exactly! At the very least it'll buy us some more time.

"That… is brilliant." Rose rolled her eyes. She could practically _see_ the Doctor's ego growing.

"I know," he said as if it weren't already obvious, using his squeaky voice. "See? Tiny glimmer of hope!" Everyone smiled at each other.

"If it works," Scannell said, always the pessimist.

"Oh, believe me," McDonnell smiled at him, her voice firm. "You're going to make it work."

Dejectedly, Scannell stalked off to get it sorted. The others smiled at McDonnell.

"That told him!" the Doctor grinned.

**?...DW…?**

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'_Impact__in__28.50.__'_

.

As time moved on, they found that they weren't getting as far as he had hoped. A lot of damage had been done. And there was only so much they could do at this moment. Not to mention at every few seconds he would look up to check on Rose.

She was still unusually quiet, but she seemed a little more her usual self. She was up beside him, smiling like she always was. But the smile didn't reach her haunted eyes. He knew there was something still raging inside her mind and he had the feeling that she was only trying to act normal for his benefit. He was constantly afraid that she might end up like Korwin. And he didn't know if he would be able to handle seeing her like that.

He thought about what the Cyberman had said to him back in Canary Warf; that emotions destroy. It scared him that the thought of losing one small pink and yellow human could destroy him so completely. She was still a child to him… even in her world, but she had blossomed into the most incredible woman he had ever met. Not one of his previous companions could quite compare. And he had had some _brilliant_ companions.

He had lost companions before… Adric had willingly given up his single life to save everyone… Even just taking people back filled him with guilt. Knowing that he had irrevocably changed their lives... and not always for the best.

He had damaged Rose's life so completely. She had no one left back on Earth. She only had the TARDIS and him… and because she loved them both, she would never leave them for anything other than death. And he knew that she would willingly give her life to save his - despite the fact that _he_ could regenerate. She had already proven she would do that. The thought of this made one of his hearts rise into his throat and the other drop into his stomach.

.

"Doctor," Abi's voice came over the intercom, breaking him out of his morbid reverie. "Theses readings are starting to scare me."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, Korwin's body's changing. His whole biological makeup… It - it's impossible." There was silence for a long time. Everyone listened intently for what she was going to say. But instead when she finally spoke it was to the whole ship. "This is med centre," her voice shook. "Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"

The Doctor was only frozen for a second before he turned and sprinted for the med centre.

"Stay here and keep working!" he shouted back at the crew. He heard light footsteps following him and felt slightly relieved and slightly scared that Rose was coming with him. But behind her he heard some heaver footfalls and saw McDonnell following too… Okay, she could come; it was her husband after all.

"Urgent assistance!" Abi's voice rung through the halls again. There was a pause and her voice became quieter. She wasn't talking to them anymore. "What's happening to you?" They could hardly hear her.

Then a deep creepy voice that _did__not_ sound human, rasped over the intercom. "Burn with me," it hissed. "Burn with me."

"Captain?" a voice called from behind them. They all stopped to find Scannell running around the corner.

"I told you to stay in engineering," the Doctor told him.

"I only take orders from one person round here," he snapped moving past them.

The Doctor looked shocked. "Oh, is he always this cheery?" he asked in bewilderment before following on.

"Burn with me," the voice said again as they got closer to the med centre.

"K-Korwin, you're sick," they heard Abi whimper.

"Burn. With. Me!"

The Doctor heard a squeal ahead of him and he froze as he rounded the corner to join the other three. Rose was doubled over, holding her head again. Scannell was holding onto her shoulders, a look of concern and fear on his face. Quickly he ran forward and took his place.

"Rose?" he said urgently.

"No!" she suddenly screamed. "Don't!" There was no time to worry about what she was talking about as a loud scream burst from the intercom. Instantly everyone - including Rose, who was still in a lot of pain - ran for the med centre.

"Doctor, what were those screams?" Martha's voice came not long after the horrible scream had subsided.

"Concentrate on those doors! You've gotta keep moving forward!" he shouted as they ran.

.

Then, as a horrid, unwanted reminder of everything else bad that was happening, the mechanical voice of the computer rang out. '_Impact__in__27.06.__'_


	37. 42, A Burning Heart

_**Sorry this one took a bit. I kept having to think about how I was skirting around some issues. I just wanted to put everything down… but that would be bad. Very bad.**_

_**But, in the meantime I was also rather distracted with reading other Rose / 10 fanfics. I've been helping my Nan out because she had a few bruised ribs after she was involved in an accident with the van. And I had to look after my cousins for a few days.**_

_**They talked me into playing schools with them. Just a note, if you get roped into playing schools, make sure you teach something you enjoy. My 5 and 7 year old cousins now know more about Doctor Who than most kids their age. They can describe Gallifrey to you (they even drew it) and can tell you the names of all the companions seasons 1+ and how many Doctors there have been. Next time they do that, I'll have to start teaching them about the classics. I'm so proud of them!**_

_**Anyway, here is the much awaited chapter.**_

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**A Burning Heart**

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They all stopped dead when they rushed into the med centre. The room was empty. No one was there. Even Korwin was missing from the medical table… And that's what unnerved him.

"Korwin's gone…" McDonnell said sounding rather shaken.

"Oh my god," Scannell's quiet exclamation made them turn around. Against the wall, not far from them, was a charred, black shape. An impression or burn of some sort. It was the perfect silhouette of a woman… the perfect silhouette of Abi Learner.

Rose blanched at the sight of it, but she wasn't shocked. The doctor walked forward until he was standing right in front of the burn mark. He studied it, running his fingers around the edge of the shape and feeling the dust and ash that used to be a person.

"Tell me that's not Learner," Scannell gasped out.

"Endothermic Vaporisation," he said. He turned to face them, looking quite worried. "I've never seen one this ferocious." He thought back to the words that had echoed through the ship. "Burn with me," he muttered them aloud.

"That's what we heard Korwin say."

"What?" McDonnell cried aghast. "Do you think… no way! Scannell, tell him! Korwin is not a killer! He can't vaporize people! He's human!"

"Not anymore," Rose told her quietly. Everyone looked up at her in shock. Looking for an escape route as to how she knew that, she spotted the results and handed them to the Doctor, hoping it would prove her right.

"His bio-scan results…" he said holding them up to the light and looking at them. "Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen! Your husband hadn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed!"

"The test results are wrong!" McDonnell cried, snatching them from his hands in anger.

"But what though? Parasite? Mutagenic virus? Something that needs a host body. But how did it get inside him?" the Doctor mused.

"Stop talking like he's some kind of experiment!" she shouted, a hint of hysteria in her voice.

"Where's the ship been?" he asked. "Have you made planetfall recently? Docked with any other vessels? Any kind of external contact at all?"

"What is this, an interrogation?"

"We've got to stop him before he kills again."

"We're just… a cargo ship," she sobbed. Looking distraught, she turned away from them.

Scannell moved to comfort her. "Doctor, if you give her a minute," he said.

"I'm fine," she lied, forcing herself to be okay. "I need to warn the crew." She walked over to the intercom and spoke to the entire ship. "Everybody listen to me. Something has infected Korwin. We think…" she paused and took a deep shuddering breath. "…he killed Abi Learner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"

"Understood, Captain," came Ashton's reply.

.

"So… whatever's infected Korwin is dangerous," Scannell stated. "So, we have to get rid of it, yeah?" The Doctor nodded darkly. "Right then…" Next thing anyone knew he had picked up the sedative gun and had pressed it against Rose's neck, holding her firmly, ready to inject her.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor cried furiously, running forward.

"We've got to stop her, before she becomes like Korwin," Scannell replied darkly. "Ashton saw his eyes for a second, he told me. He said they glowed. Her eyes glowed too, I saw them."

"No they didn't," Rose said in panic. She pushed her way from his grasp and skittered away from everyone, even the Doctor. "I'm not infected, it doesn't want me!"

"What?" the Doctor said in shock.

"I don't know!" she cried. "All I have is this screaming in my head. What ever it is, it's in pain and it's angry. And it's kind of hard to concentrate on much else about it. It's taking all I have to push it back."

The Doctor forced himself to appear calm, and walked forward to her. He held her face in his hands and searched her eyes, they looked so tormented. If what ever this thing was, was trying to get her, then it explained a lot. He wanted it to stop.

"Do… do you want me to help?" he said timidly. "I could-"

"No!" Rose cried much too quickly and much too loudly. She knew what he was going to offer and she couldn't do that to him. He looked at her, startled, and slowly his hands fell to his sides.

"Don't you trust me?" he said, a hint of sorrow and pain in his voice. It hurt Rose to hear it there.

"No, I do. I thrust you with everything, more than anything else in every single universe. It's just… I've already got two other consciousnesses in here; I don't think I could handle another."

"Two?"

"Later, yeah?" she urged. She knew he would have to agree with the pressing matters at hand.

The Doctor looked at her, his face hard - though not unkind - and gave a firm nod. "Later," he agreed. And she most certainly would tell him later. And he would do tests, search her mind, the whole shebang!

.

'_Impact__in__24.51._'

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Still with Rose on his mind, the Doctor picked up the discarded test results and held them up to the light.

"Is the infection permanent?" McDonnell asked almost hopefully. "Can you cure him?"

He paused and looked at her a moment. "I dunno," he told her.

"Don't lie to me, Doctor," she said. "Eleven years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps honest. So I don't want false hope."

"Parasite's too aggressive. Your husband's gone. There's no way back. Sorry," he said to the point, but sympathetically.

"Thank you," she told him quietly. Rose looked at her sadly. She wished there was a way she could comfort the woman. She wished that she could tell her that it was peaceful and that he hadn't felt any pain. But that was a lie. It would have been horrible. The screaming and the burning… his mind slowly exploding as the creature forced its way into his head. It was a horrible way to go. She wished that it hadn't been. And she wished - although she had a very strong feeling telling her otherwise - that the same fate didn't befall anyone else.

"Are you certain nothing happened to provoke this?" the Doctor asked McDonnell, springing to life again. He came and stood, bending down to face her. "Nobody's working on anything secret? 'Cause it's _vital_ that you tell me."

"I know every inch of this ship," she said firmly, holding his gaze almost coldly. "I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing."

"Then why is it so interested in you?" he said suspiciously, her tone and expression making him sound colder than he had intended.

"I wish I knew…" she replied.

"Because it's your fault," said a small voice. They all turned to face Rose. She was sitting not far from them; she refused to look at anyone - especially the Doctor. Her hand was pressed to her heart like it was beating too fast. "It's hurt, it's angry. It wants its heart back."

Before anyone could reply to this, Martha spoke over the intercom.

"Doctor, we're through to area 17," she told him.

"Keep going," he told her. "You've got to get to area 1 and reboot those engines."

**?...DW…?**

'_Heat__shields__failing__at__20%._'

.

By now they had made their way back to engineering. McDonnell was annoyed that Erina and Ashton were nowhere to be seen.

'_Airlock__field.__Jettison__escape__pod.__'_ The Doctor and the crew members looked about in confusion. '_Pod__jettison__initiated.__'_

"What the hell is going on?" Scannell asked. Unfortunately, they got their answer immediately.

"Doctor!" Martha's voice cried. "We're in an escape pod off the area 17 airlock." The Doctor looked at Rose and the Captain in alarm. "One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us!"

"Why is this happening?" McDonnell asked him weakly.

"Stay here," he ordered. "I mean it this time! Don't start those engines!" his voice became firmer. "Rose." He held his had out to her and in less than a second, the two of them were sprinting down the corridors.

'_Jettison__held,__'_ the computer informed everyone. But Rose and the Doctor slowed down none the less. But then less than a few seconds later, it changed its mind. '_Jettison__reactivated.__' _And again. '_Jettison__held.__Escape__pod__stabilised.__'_

Then they ran around the corner to see Ashton standing at the door to the airlock. He wore some sort of welding mask. He was tapping away at the buttons to the jettison pod, trying to launch it.

"That's enough!" the Doctor shouted at him. Ashton turned to face him. Rose knew, before they had even laid eyes on him, she knew what had happened. And she could only guess at the Doctor had come to the same conclusion that Ashton had been infected. "What do you want?" he asked. "Why this ship? Tell me!"

For a moment Ashton didn't answer. Then, without warning, he turned and punched through the key pad. The controls to the pod were destroyed.

'_Jettison__activate,_' the computer announced as alarms went off.

"Come on," the Doctor said as Ashton walked up to him. "Let's see you."

"Doctor, no!" Rose whimpered, clinging to his arm.

"I wanna know what you really are."

"Please, don't," she begged him.

Ashton lifted his hand to raise the visor on his mask. Then suddenly backed away, doubling over and screeching in pain. The Doctor watched on in confusion. After a few seconds, Ashton stood straight again.

'_Airlock__sealed_.'

Ashton walked right up to the Doctor, but rather than resume the attack, he went right past him, hitting him hard with his shoulder as he went. Rose ran over to the window to see Martha mouthing to her through the small window in the pod. The Doctor skidded over to the intercom.

"McDonnell!" he called. "Ashton's heading in your direction! He's been infected, just like Korwin!"

"Korwin's dead, Doctor," came Scannell's dejected reply. He nodded grimly to no one.

'_Airlock__decompression__completed.__Jettisoning__pod.__'_

The Doctor's head snapped up and he dashed over to the window with Rose. Martha was tapping on the window, calling to him. But they couldn't hear any thing she was saying.

"I'll save you!" he called, making sure to mouth the words clearly. She kept calling out his name and he repeated the line over and over. The pod jettisoned and he continued to reassure her even as she drifted further and further away. She looked distraught.

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'_Impact__in__17.05.__'_

.

"Scannell!" the Doctor down the intercom. "I need a spacesuit in area 17, now!"

"What for?" he replied.

"Just get down here!" he shouted.

.

A few minutes later Scannell was with them, the Doctor had explained what had happened and what he was doing. He had changed into a reddish, orange space suit that made Rose shiver. It reminded her too much of the one he had worn on Krop Tor. She dint want him to do this, didn't want him in danger. But she would never give up on Martha. She knew that he had to do this.

"I can't let you do this," Scannell argued.

"You're wasting your breath, Scannell. You're not going to stop me."

"You wanna open an airlock in-flight on a ship spinning into the sun. No one can survive that!" Scannell said incredulously.

"Oh, just you watch," the Doctor told him.

"You open that airlock, it's suicide. This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."

"He's been thorough worse," Rose said, trying to reassure herself as much as she was Scannell.

"If I can breach the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should re-magnetise the pod," the Doctor explained. "Now, while I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We _need_ those auxiliary engines."

"Doctor, will you listen!" Scannell yelled. "They're too far away, it's too late!"

"We're not going to lose her," the Doctor said simply. He put on the helmet and walked past him.

"He'll be okay," Rose told Scannell. "Go, we need you to do those doors. I'll look after him." Nodding, Scannell left them, still not happy about it. She turned to the Doctor and held his helmet firmly in her grasp, so he was looking at her. "You listen to me," she said to him. "You get her back, and you get yourself back, okay? Be careful and don't look at the sun, you hear me? What ever you do, do _not_ look at the sun!" she felt him try to move his head in a nod, but she was holding him too tightly for his head to actually move. "Good," she said. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her and her arms fell down to loop around his neck.

"It'll be okay," he reassured her. But it did nothing to help. They both knew there was a large chance that it _wouldn__'__t_ be okay.

Rose watched as the Doctor stepped into the airlock room.

'_Decompression__initiating.__Impact__in__12.55.__'_

The sun was blazing before him and she prayed he did as she said. As she had watched Martha floating away, she had looked at the terrifying ball of gas. And then she had known. She felt a stab against her mind, like the force was stronger. And she knew that it was the sun that was in her mind. She hadn't heard the screaming until she had looked at the sun. And she would to anything to protect him from that fate.

It took nearly two minutes for the room to decompress. The Doctor walked over to the exterior airlock, ready to go out.

'_Impact__in__11.15.__Heat__shields__failing__at__10%__'_

He pressed a button and the exterior door opened. She watched as he recoiled slightly from the heat. Then, he held onto the frame of the door, and clambered out. She could still see his hand gripping the frame and a leg trying to keep him in.

It was only a few seconds until she started worrying.

"Doctor! How are you going?" she asked into the intercom.

"I can't… I can't reach!" he called back. "I don't know how much longer I can last!"

"Come on!" she encouraged. "Don't give up now. She needs you. I know you can do it."

That must have been all the encouragement he needed, because there was a cry of determination, and then it was only a minute or less that he dragging himself back into the room. They watched as the Jettison pod drew closer, floating away from the sun.

The Doctor continued to stare out at it. Then he said something that made Rose's blood run cold.

"It's alive."


	38. 42,  Impact

**Impact**

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'_Impact__in__8.57,_' the computer informed them. '_Airlock__recompression__completed.__'_

The Doctor took off his helmet and crawled out, falling out of the room. Rose caught him up in her arms, a look of horror on her face.

"You idiot!" she sobbed. "I told you. I told you not to look." In her arms the Doctor writhed in pain and began to scream.

A few seconds later Martha and Riley tumbled out of the pod and she was rushing to Rose and the Doctor's side.

"Doctor! Doctor, are you okay?" she cried. By now he had struggled from Rose's grasp and had pushed himself up against the wall. As his eyes opened slightly they saw the bright fire in his eyes that Rose had seen in Korwin's. Tears streamed down Rose's face. She couldn't let that happen to her Doctor!

"Stay away from me!" He growled. Rose knew that he still had a hold of himself and was trying to keep them safe. She also knew that he now knew exactly what she did and perhaps more.

"What's happened?" McDonnell called running up behind them. Martha attempted to pull Rose away as the Doctor tried to push her away. But she only gasped and slumped further into the floor as her mind was assaulted again.

"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" he ground out through the pain.

"Riley, Get down to area 10 and help Scannell with the doors. Go!" she ordered. With a last concerned look at the two travellers on the floor, Riley complied.

"You mined that sun!" the Doctor continued in a shout. "Stripped its surface for cheep fuel! You should have scanned for life!"

"I don't understand," she whimpered. Martha guessed that she'd heard the phrase 'it's your fault' too many times. Seeing that the Doctor didn't want help with his internal struggle she moved over to help Rose who was clutching her head in her hands again. A high pitch moan that was bordering on a squeal of pain was coming from her. At the sound of another scream from the Doctor, however, she tried to pull herself back together and seem normal enough to help him.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" she said helping Rose to her feet. She had to hold her back as Rose tried to move forward to wipe the sweat off his brow. But she was physically weak at the moment and it didn't take much for Martha to keep her in place.

Rose tried not to let it show that since it had invaded the Doctor's mind, her own mind was much weaker. But she also knew that it wasn't trying to get at her anymore. If anything, from it she felt sympathy for what it was doing to her. But it couldn't help its consciousness branching out like that. It was a defence mechanism, something it did automatically when it was dying. It wanted revenge on the others, but it had been inside her head long enough to have seen compassion. And it hated that it was hurting her.

"That sun is alive!" the Doctor cried. "A living organism! They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!"

"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why's he saying that?" McDonnell panicked.

"Because it's living in me," he growled lowly.

"Oh my god," she gaped in horror, her hands flying to her mouth. Martha looked at him in horror and shock, only just managing to keep a hold of Rose, who was struggling to stay upright.

"Humans!" she shouted angrily. "You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry!" he let out a scream of anguish. "You should have scanned!"

"It takes too long! We'd be caught! Fusion scoops are illegal," McDonnell said quickly.

The Doctor let out another agonising cry, though this one sounded tainted with anger.

"Martha! You've got to freeze me, quickly!" he ordered. His voice coming out as a low strangled cry.

"What?" she cried, dropping to his side. Rose shuffled over to him and was already attempting to get him up. But she was so weak that she couldn't do much, Martha grabbed him and helped.

"Stasis chamber!" he told her. "You gotta keep me… below minus 200. Freeze it out of me!" he screamed again. He began to look scared, even with his eyes shut tight. "It'll use me to kill you if you don't! The closer to the sun we get, the stronger it gets! Look after Rose! Med-centre! Quickly! Quickly!" his voice was a high and harsh straggled scream.

"Help me!" Martha shouted at McDonnell. "Rose, save your strength, just follow us. He needs you."

And with that, the four of them staggered to the med-centre.

**?...DW…?**

'_Impact__in__7.30._'

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They finally made it into the med-centre. The Doctor and Rose let out an agonised scream at the same time and Martha looked at both of them in panic. She and McDonnell hauled him up onto the stasis chamber table. Rose only had enough strength to hold herself up against the edge of it, up by his head.

"I can do this," Martha muttered flipping through a manual.

"Rose, where are you!" he cried, reaching out for her blindly.

"It's alright, it's oaky! I'm here!" she gasped out the reassurance, grabbing onto his hand. "It's me! Here I am! Martha's just getting the stasis chamber ready. Minus 200, yeah?"

"Stop!" McDonnell cried. "You'll kill him! Nobody can survive those temperatures!"

"He's not human!" Rose shouted at her. Her pain and anger making her lash out. "He can survive it!"

"Then let me help."

"You've done enough damage," Martha snapped at her hatefully.

"Ten seconds. That's all I'll be able to take. No more!" he screamed orders at Martha. "Rose!" he cried out.

"Yeah?"

"It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all." Suddenly with a strangled cry, his tone when from dark - one that was not his own - to scared and child like. "I'm scared, Rose!" he whimpered. "I'm so scared!"

"It's okay, I got you," she said, stoking his hair off his sticky forehead. "Stay calm. It's going to be alright. We'll stop it. I've got you."

"I don't want it to get you."

"It wont," she told him. "It wont, I'm holding it back. Oh god, why didn't you listen."

"It's burning! Kill me. Then it wont happen!" he cried.

"No! That's enough!" she shouted at him. "I could never - I'll _never_ do that! I won't lose you!"

"You - you might want to tell Martha about… regeneration," he struggled to get out.

"Stop it!" she urged. "Shh, quiet now. That's not going to happen."

"You ready?" Martha asked him.

"No!" was his scared, fragile reply.

"Rose, I have to put him in now." She dragged the girl away. Rose tried to hang on to him for dear life, but with the little strength she had left, it didn't take much more than a light tug to separate them. She left the poor girl sitting on the floor, her nails digging into her scalp as the pain increased.

Martha pushed the table into the stasis chamber and turned it on at minus 200 degrees. The Doctor screamed in agony.

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'_Heat__shields__failing__at__5%__'_

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Suddenly all the computers went dead and the stasis chamber failed.

"No! Martha, you can't stop it! Not yet!" the Doctor cried through his continuous screams.

"What's happened?" Martha cried in alarm.

"Powers been cut in engineering," McDonnell said.

"But who's down there?"

McDonnell looked at her a moment. "Leave it to me," she said her voice hard. Then she turned and ran from the room. And Martha was left alone with a screaming, defrosting Doctor and a Rose who could barely lift her head.

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'_Impact__in__4.47._'

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"Come on, you're defrosting," Martha muttered trying to get the screen up and running again.

"Martha!" the Doctor cried out. "Listen! I've only got a moment. You've got to get Rose and go!"

"No way!" she told him.

"Get to the front! Vent the engines! Sun particles in the fuel. Get rid of them! Keep Rose safe!"

"I'm not leaving!"

"You've got to! Give back what they took!"

"Doctor!"

"_Please!_" his voice broke in pain. "Go!"

"I'll be back, I promise." Then she ducked down trying to pick up Rose, but the woman shrugged her off. "Rose, we have to go," she persisted.

"No," she said sounding surprisingly strong for how she looked. "It only takes one to empty the fuel. I'll only slow you down. I _need_ to stay with him." After a moment, Martha gave a firm nod and ran from the room.

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'_Impact__in__4.08.__'_

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"Doctor?" Rose said weakly. She struggled to pull herself up beside him.

"Rose!" he cried in alarm as she used the leaver to send his table out. She used it to support her and she stroked his face, trying to comfort him. "No! What are you doing? You have to go!"

"No! I'm not leaving you. I never will."

"I don't want to hurt you!"

"Then don't," she countered. "Think of something good. Something happy and strong." He let out another agonised scream and it was all she could do not to as well. "Re-remember that day we went to Landeenen?" she went on. "Clouds you could walk on. I kept falling over. You thought it was so funny. And we didn't stop smiling the whole time. And - and then it started to rain _on_ the cloud!" For a moment it seemed to work.

She tried to remind him of the good times, anything to keep him strong. But how could she do that when her strength was failing too.

With a scream, she fell to the ground, unable to continue.

She could barely notice McDonnell's apology over the intercom and the computers warning that the airlock had opened. But she was acutely aware of the two screams that merged together through the room. Her head was burning. _He_ was burning. And so was she.

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'_Impact__in__2.17.__'_

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The Doctor pushed himself off the table and fell, with a cry, to the floor. He landed heavily beside Rose.

"Rose," he gasped out.

"Doctor," she whimpered in reply.

"I can't fight it. I'm sorry, I ca-" he was cut off as his mind broke. The pain was too intense and the last of his shields broke down. All he could feel was the burning and the intense pain and the need for revenge. "Burn with me," he hissed. "Burn with me!"

'_Impact__in__1.21.__'_

He let out the loudest shriek yet as the sun burned with in him. He didn't even have the strength to stand, even now that he had been taken over. He knew his eyes were open. He knew that if he laid them on any living being, they would be vaporized. And he was very aware that Rose was right next to him. He couldn't help it as his head swung in her direction.

And then it was gone. Oh, the pain was still there, but the sun had with drawn enough that if he looked at anyone he wouldn't kill them. And it was a good thing too, because he was looking right at Rose. The sun had allowed him to save her.

But what he saw him, terrified him even more than the sun in his head. Rose lay before him, screaming in agony. Her eyes burning with a golden energy. It wasn't the sun. It was something else… But he didn't have much time to ponder of this as the sun regained control and he forced himself to look away.

'_Impact__in__1.06.__'_

He tried to get far away from her. He crawled, he shuffled, and he dragged himself. He tried to stand and move away. But every move he made was crippling agony. And he hardly made it a few steps.

He could feel it as the sun particles were released and drifted back to where it belonged. The sun slowly stopped screaming and its pain subsided. As the sun's pain relented, so did his. And it let him go.

'_Impact__averted,_' he heard the computer say. But it was distant and foggy.

He fell to the floor, slumping down beside Rose again. They both lay there breathing heavily. They only just had enough energy to roll over and face each other, give a weary grin, and throw their arm over the other in comfort. They let out a weak, giddy laugh of relief. It wasn't mush of a reunion hug, but it was all they could manage at the moment.

And they stayed there like that, together, regaining their energy, for a long time.

**?...DW…?**

Later, they had recovered and been reunited with Martha. She was so relieved to see them both alright. Though she could tell that the both of them were covering up a headache. Both probably trying to down play how bad they really were, so that the other wouldn't worry. It was so like them. They would suffer, so the other would be okay. It took all she had not to roll her eyes.

"This is never your ship!" Scannell cried as they walked over to the TARDIS.

"Compact, eh?" the Doctor grinned. "And another word: robust! Barely a scorch mark on her."

"We can't just leave them drifting with no fuel," Martha said in concern.

"We've sent out an official mayday," Riley told them. "The authorities will pick us up soon enough.

"Though how we explain what happened…"

"Just tell them the truth," Rose said gently. "That sun is a living creature. It needs care and protection, just like any other living thing." The Doctor looked at her in confusion and she knew that he was having memory problems.

Smiling gently, she bid the two men goodbye and led the confused Time Lord into their ship. Martha stayed outside and talked to the boys - or from what she could hear, more specifically, Riley - as she filled the Doctor in on some of the blanks… only some. There were many points that she was more than willing to leave out.

The Doctor nodded, accepting her explanation as the reason why his head was so foggy and in pain. He admitted that there wasn't much he did remember. Just a lot of burning and faces and feelings. There had been a lot of pain. He knew he was going to have nightmares. But most of it was gone.

"So!" Martha said happily, skipping back into the TARDIS. "Didn't really need you in the end, did we?" she joked. Her face fell when she saw how tired he really looked. "Sorry," she apologised. "How are you doing?"

Rather than answer her, he turned to the console and sent them into the time vortex. "Now," he said falsely happy as he looked at the two girls. "What do you say? Ice-skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha! Fancy it?" They both just looked at him with raised eyebrows and worried expressions. But he was adamant on keeping the mood light. "Oh, by the way," he said to Martha, "you'll be needing this." He held out a TARDIS key to her.

"Really?" she cried in delight.

"Frequent flyers privilege," he winked. Then after a long pause, "thank you," he said softly. "Rose said you saved us all. Good job."

"Don't mention it," her voice was barely above a whisper.

Then he blinked in confusion. "Wait a minute," he said. "Wasn't there…? Rose didn't you…?" he seemed to be struggling to form the thought. Rose laughed at him; he looked so cute trying to piece it together. But she didn't want him to get that close. She knew he would go frantic and crazy. She had said too much, and she would never get any peace from him if he remembered.

"Alright, come on you," she laughed. "I know what will make that big head-"

"Oi! I do not have a big head!" he cried indignantly.

"-of yours feel better. Lets head to the kitchen and I'll make you a banana split."

His head picked up at that immediately, all other thoughts forgotten. "Ooh! That does sound good!" he grinned and jumped to follow her. But the sudden movement made him sway on his feet. Smiling, Rose grabbed him by the arm and led him away.

Martha watched them go. She realised that Rose must still be hiding it from him. She probably didn't want him to worry, especially since she had more or less been in the same state as him nearly the entire adventure. Then she remembered her earlier conversation with her mother, and quickly dialled home again.

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The Doctor woke up sweating on the pilot seat, with a strangled cry. That had been a bloody _great_ banana split, but he was starting to regret it now. After that nightmare he was feeling quite sick. God it had been horrible. He had remembered a little more of what had happened that day. Mostly it was the pain and screaming. Some about McDonnell and her husband.

And Rose… it hadn't just been him screaming. Rose with glowing gold eyes.

Quickly he jumped up and ran over to a coral beam where one of her jackets hung. It wasn't much, but it would have her DNA on it, and that would do for now. He knew she was hiding something from him, and he had to know what. He had to know that she was okay.

He sprinted through the halls, her jacket in hand, and went to pull the door to the lab open. It was locked… What! How could it be locked? He tried using the sonic, but it still wouldn't budge.

"You're locking me out!" he cried in frustration at the TARDIS. "This is about Rose! Something could be wrong with her. Don't you care if something happens to her?"

There was an angry hum and electricity crackled through the air. The TARDIS couldn't talk to him, just send him feeling s and vibes and she had other ways of getting across to him. But he got the message clear enough. 'Stay out of Rose's business. Of course I care. I'm keeping her safe.'

Sighing, he walked dejectedly back to the console room and sat heavily down on the seat. He didn't let go of her jacket. He wanted to know what was going on… and it smelled like her. He sighed deeply again.

Rose was hiding something from him, and the TARDIS was conspiring against him… For now, there was nothing he could do.

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_**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long with this chapter. I'm currently moving houses at the moment. And I've also been alternating between this and my new story 'Forgotten Past'. So yeah, updates might be a little less frequent over the next few weeks.**_

_**Don't worry, I already have the next chapter mostly written. It should be up in a fe days.**_

_**Hope you liked this one. Yes, I know he keeps forgetting, but there is a reason for that. I have it ALL sussed!**_

_**Please review!**_


	39. Human Nature, Impossible Things

_**Human Nature! Yay! I just hope what I've got lives up to everyone's standards. I know how much you've all been looking forward to this.**_

_**While talking to Aussieflower, she pointed out that I've made Martha and John rather familiar. That's because they've known each other since they were kids, so it would make sense that their relationship would more be bordering on friendship than professionalism. Martha and Rose are both people he trusts.**_

_**So, I hope you DO enjoy it!**_

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***Human Nature***

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**Impossible Things**

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The three travellers burst into the main room. The huge pillar with the buttons and strange metal machines was sparking like it were about to burst into flame. The Doctor turned around to face his two companions, panic in his eyes.

"Did they see you?" he asked urgently grabbing a hold of both of them.

"I don't know!" Martha cried as a bang rattled the box.

"Did they see you?" he asked more urgently than before.

"How are we supposed to know?" Rose gasped. "We were too busy running!"

"This is important!" he said getting frustrated, there was an unnamed fear in his eyes. "Did they see your faces?"

"No, they can't have…" Rose replied.

The Doctor ran over to the controller thing and frantically pushed buttons. "Off we go!" he shouted. The girls came over and stood next to him, looking at each other in worry. Neither of them had seen him quite like this before. Suddenly there was a beeping and strange alien symbols appeared on some sort of box thing. "Ahh!" he cried in frustration. "They're following us."

"How can they do that?" Martha asked. "You've got a time machine!"

"Stolen technology," he told her. "They've got a Time Agent's vortex manipulator. They can follow us wherever we go. Right across the universe…" he paused for a long time. "They're never going to stop." He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think. Then the idea came to him and the fear grew more. "Unless…" he said quietly. "I'll have to do it…" he turned and looked the two girls right in the eyes. "Martha, you trust me don't you?" he said nervously.

"Of course I do."

"Rose?"

"Did you really have to ask?" her offended tone was lost in her panic. If he was asking her if she trusted him then what happened next could not be good.

"Good, because it all depends on you two." He dived under the centre controls and searched for something.

"What are _we_ supposed to do?" Martha said in alarm.

The Doctor reappeared holding a pocket watch. He ran straight up to Rose and pressed it into her hands. "Take this watch," he told her. He had given it to her and not Martha because he was trying to show her how much he trusted her. Telling her in his own way how much he cared. "Because my life depends on it. This watch, Rose – This watch is-"

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John opened his eyes. He blinked in confusion. The early morning sunlight filtered in through the windows making this mahogany furnished room glow warmly. It almost felt strange being here in bed.

Those dreams could seem so real. He could feel the Doctor's fear, the two hearts beating hard against his chest. They seemed impossibly real for dreams.

Sitting up he rubbed his eyes. He hated it when the dreams just cut off. What was it about the watch? It looked… almost familiar.

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There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," he called. He looked up as his maid Martha came in carrying a try of breakfast for him. "Good morning, Martha," he greeted her.

"Good morning, Mr Smith," she smiled and placed his breakfast down for him.

Still not bothering to dress, he put on a robe and sat down at the table and began writing in his dream diary. A few seconds later the door flew open and Miss Tyler ran in. She stopped dead as if she had forgotten something, ran back out, closing the door after her… then knocked.

"Come in Miss Tyler," he said trying not to laugh. She was such a strange funny and sweet woman.

Rose opened the door and stepped in; she was carrying a pile of books. "For the hundredth time, Mr Smith, call me Rose," she smiled at him.

"And for the hundredth time, Rose, call me John," he replied playfully. They said this to one another all the time. It had almost become a greeting.

"Oh, sorry," she said noticing he was still in his pyjamas. "You're not dressed… I was just dropping these off. I'll come back later." She made to leave.

"No, no, it's quite alright," he told her. "Please, stay. Oh and you can put those just here, if you will."

She placed the pile of books on the table beside him and saw that he was writing. "What's that?" she asked.

"This? Oh, it's just… I have these dreams," he told her. "These extraordinary dreams. I dream I'm this…" he searched for the right word. "Adventurer. This… daredevil, a madman. 'The Doctor', I'm called. And last night I dreamt that you and Martha were there, as my… companions. And… and this watch…" he stood and picked the fob watch off the mantle. "I don't know… it's funny how dreams slip away. What do you make of it?"

He passed the watch over to her. She had held it before and it was still in every way the same. Unless you knew better it would appear as an ordinary fob watch. It had intricate Gallifreyan symbols across the front, which most would think it were only some strange engraving. But she knew better. Inside this watch was the Doctor, the conscious and biological template of his Time Lord self.

"_Rose__…"_

Rose nearly dropped the watch in shock. It had been his voice, the Doctor – or well, John's – voice… but John and said nothing. The voice was a small whisper inside her head. But she knew it had come from the watch.

"_My__Rose__…"_ she looked at it cautiously, trying not to show too much emotion on her face. It couldn't be… it just couldn't be… "_Watch__out,__Rose.__They__come__soon.__But__not__yet,__don__'__t__open__me__yet__…"_

"Rose?" John's voice snapped her out. "Rose, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry," she said. "It's beautiful… but it's just a watch right?"

"Yes, yes of course," he said taking the watch from her and putting it back down on the mantle piece. "It's just so strange. I'm a man from another world. And I do remember – it all took place in the future. In the year of Our Lord 2007!"

"I can prove that wrong for you sir," Martha said getting their attention. "Here's the morning paper." She handed the paper to him and they saw the date of 'Monday November 10th 1913'.

"Hmm," Rose said, her mind still on the voice from the watch. "2007, that's pretty Ood… _Odd_, I mean odd," she corrected quickly. John laughed.

"You're a strange woman Miss Rose Tyler," he grinned.

"Daydreamer," she teased. It had almost become a joke between them. Apparently people thought she was strange, and he, a dreamer.

"That's not all they're saying now," Martha muttered.

"What? What do they say?" Rose heard her and asked.

"You'd be surprised what you hear when people don't want to know you are there," she replied. "The jokes about you two being odd and up in the clouds are getting worse. And that you two…" she trailed off. They didn't need to know that people believed they were secretly sleeping together. It was awkward enough for them when people asked if they were a couple. "And I heard Matron Redfern quite fancies a certain History teacher…" John's eyebrows rose and Rose scowled. Seriously! How could Martha mention that to him? He wasn't exactly himself at the moment. He may think that he may have a shot with the Matron! "And Mr Philips is planning on asking Rose to the dance if…" her eyes flicked to John, but neither of them noticed.

This time it was Rose's turn to be surprised and John's eyes darkened. He had heard what some of the teachers said about Rose and it was _not_ very gentlemanly. In fact it made him want to hit them!

"Oh, the dance," Rose said. "I forgot that was coming up. I haven't been to a proper dance since… well, I can't remember. But no one's taking me yet and I don't think I'll be accepting Mr Philip's invitation." She smiled weakly as she looked at John. She hoped he had picked up on the subtle hint…

"Hmm, yes," he mused. "Nor can I. I can remember when _the__Doctor_last went to a dance. He danced with Madam De Pompadour in France. Or… sorry no, was it a wedding at Christmas…"

Trying not to tell him it was the wedding, Rose walked back to his table and looked at the book again.

"'A Journal of Impossible things'… This really is extraordinary John," she said as she flicked through. Inside were sketches and scribbled notes, the stories of her life with him written down on paper.

"You can take that with you if you want," he told her. "Read it later… I've never actually shown it to anyone yet."

"Really?" she said brightly. "I'd love to!" Carefully she picked up the book and folded it under her arms as if it were a precious treasure. "I should get back to the Library," she said. "Who knows what havoc those boys might create while I'm gone! I mean, it's not like they listen to a word I say, but at least they don't to anything stupid if I'm there. It was lovely to see you John, see you later Martha." And she headed out the door.

Smiling broadly John sat down to eat his breakfast.

"That was very sweet of you," Martha told him. "I'm sure she'll love reading it."

"Yes," he grinned. "Yes, she will love…" slowly he looked up from his food, a look of terror on his face. Like the moment you realise that you left the oven on. "Oh no, no, no, no, no!" he cried getting up and charging out the door. "Miss Tyler! Miss Tyler!" he called. But she was gone and students were already crowding the corridor. Many of them gave him odd looks, seeing him in his pyjamas. He had a feeling there would be some rumours about he and Rose flying around rather soon.

Growling in frustration he went back in his study, shut the door, and banged his head against it.

"Sir, are you alright?" Martha said in concern.

"I'm such an idiot!" he cried. "Oh, I have to get that book back!"

"But why, Sir?"

"In the book. There's something I don't want her to see!" he said starting to pace. "It's the Doctor. He – he… Well, he's in love with her – the Rose in the dreams. The Doctor is in love with his Rose… but his Rose is like my Rose – Good lord, did I just call her _my_ Rose? What if she reads it and thinks that…"

"That you're in love her?" Martha finished for him.

"Exactly."

"Forgive me, Sir but… I thought that you _did_ love her." She knew she shouldn't have, but she really just wanted to see his reaction. And indeed she got one. John's head snapped up to look at her, surprise plastered across his face. He opened his mouth to argue, but the words 'I don't' just wouldn't come. For a second he stood there opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"Not the point!" he finally said. "And most certainly not your place, Miss Jones."

"Sorry Sir," she smiled.

.

"Martha," he said walking over to her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I need you to do a favour for me, please. You have to get the book back, before she reads it."

"But she'll notice it's gone. I can't just take it away."

"Then rip out the page! Pour ink over it, just make sure she doesn't read it!" he said frantically.

"If you do love her, then what does it matter if she sees it," she protested. She really didn't want to go rifling through Rose's things to fool her. They were friends.

"It wouldn't be proper," he straightened himself up. "It is rude and dismal that anyone should find out s-something like that… that way."

Martha could see what he meant. It would be horrible to find out that someone loved you by reading it in a dream diary… Then again, at this point Rose was probably so desperate for a sign – any sign – of returned affection that she would look at it like Christmas come early. Which could be slightly problematic…

"Okay," she sighed. "But if I get caught, I'm blaming you."

"Naturally," he said sighing in relief. "Thank you, Martha."

**?...DW…?**

The rest of John's day passed much the same as it always did. He walked the halls, making sure the students were behaving. They all nodded respect fully to him. He taught his class, as per usual, today it was the Battle of Waterloo.

He liked working here. Before they had come here two months ago, he had worked as one of four teachers in a small town school. It was a co-educational school, and nether girls nor boys were quite so disciplined. He had lived there for quite a few years.

Martha had come with him, not wanting to leave his side. It was understandable considering how rudely people treated people of her ethnicity. But he had grown up with her. He held nothing against her because of something as silly as skin colour. And he knew she really was a lovely girl.

Miss Tyler had been his neighbour. She had moved in next to him almost three years ago. She had owned a small bookshop. He had gone in at least twice a week. He had had to buy a few new book shelves with the amount of books he brought from there. He had never even read half of them. As time had gone on he realised it had just been an excuse to see her more.

But then the murders started happening. Beautiful young women from the town began to show up, raped and brutally slaughtered. People began to lock their doors at night. It was alright in a way, they had thought they were safe… until one night the murderer had smashed in a girl's window and dragged her from the house. He had feared for Rose, living alone with no protection. And Rose and Martha had been scared. They wanted to leave.

That had been when he had heard of a vacant position for a teacher and a librarian a few towns over. It was perfect. And he had managed to talk the Headmaster into giving Martha a job here too. He was just glad that they both were safe and happy.

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Later that day he came across some boys being rude to Martha and her friend Jenny. He was outraged that they were being so horrible to her. As punishment he told them that they could finish her duties for the rest of the day in between their classes. He knew the Headmaster would tell him to simply give the boys a caning. But he just couldn't. He had anger enough to scare the boys straight, but he would _never_ beat them. It was, quite frankly, brutal.

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A little after that, he was walking back to his study with an arm load of books. As he walked near the library he stopped. He had been anxious all day, wondering whether or not Martha had managed to stop Rose from reading that page. He tried to look over his books, peering across the corridor and through the library doors. He could see Rose placing a book on the shelf. She was smiling happily to herself, stopping occasionally to peer into the book she was holding. He loved her smile; it made his world light up. Seeing it made him smile just as much. He could have stayed there and watched her all day…

"John, look out for the stairs!" someone called beside him. He turned to see Matron Redfern looking at him in worry.

"S-sorry, what about them?" he asked distractedly.

"They're right behind…" As he turned to look at her his foot slipped on a stair, he tried to right himself but he overbalanced and toppled down. "…you," Miss Redfern finished weakly. She watched in horror as his books went flying and he tumbled down the stares to the very bottom to land at Martha's feet.

Martha bent down in concern. It took a long time for him to open his eyes. He just blinked up at Martha. And then, rather pathetically, he said, "Ow…"


	40. Human Nature, Lights

**Lights**

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John let out a small grunt of pain as Nurse Redfern attended his head wound.

"Oh, stop it," Nurse Redfern said with a fond smile. "I get boys causing less fuss than this."

"But it hurts!" he cried sulkily in reply. Martha tried her hardest to stifle a laugh, earning a glare from the Matron.

Suddenly they were interrupted as Rose burst in through the door, not even bothering to knock.

"John!" she cried running over to him. She checked him over before turning to Martha. "Is he alright?" she shot at her.

"He's okay Rose," she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, but have you checked for concussion?"

"Yes, I have Miss Tyler," Nurse Redfern informed her. She sounded bitter and was thoroughly annoyed that: A) John was allowing her to burst into his study, uninvited. B) He was hardly fazed that she was handling him so. And C) That she had the _gall_ to turn to the _maid_ for medical help!

"Oh, god, they say you fell down the stairs!" she said to John. "And right outside where I was too. I can't believe I couldn't hear it!"

"It was just a tumble, that's all," he mumbled. Martha snorted in amusement, earning more glares from the Matron _and_ John. Quickly she schooled her features into what she had come to call the 'maid face'.

"You're so accident prone," she half sighed, half laughed.

"Me? You can talk!" he laughed. "You know how I met her?" he asked the Matron. "One day I noticed this new quaint little book shop had opened in my town. Thought I'd stop in and take a look. Next thing I know a large bookshelf is toppling over, and I'm digging Miss Rose Tyler out from under it! She's _very_ jeopardy friendly."

"You wouldn't have had to rescue me if you hadn't knocked it over in the first place!" she said indignantly. "Oh well, at least you didn't blow the place up!" At this he cracked up laughing. Causing Matron to grumble at his constant movement. Suddenly he noticed that she was holding something in her hands.

"Is that my journal?" he queried. Rose bit her lip anxiously.

"Oh, John, I'm so sorry!" she cried. He looked startled and worried. "I left it on my desk a moment while I went to help a student, and when I came back someone had pored ink over it! Just flipped to a random page and put huge big blots of ink over the page!" With a shaking hand she opened the book and showed him the damage.

John tried to look upset about it. But it was hard to contain the relief that Martha had managed to blot it out before she read it. He looked at the page to find that some of the writing had been covered by big wet ink marks. The biggest spot was right over where he knew he had written the words 'He loves her. He loves her more than the stars and the universe'. Then suddenly realising something, he flipped the page over in horror. As he had suspected, the ink had bled through onto the next page. This page had no writing, just a few sketches of only Rose.

He groaned and shot a glare at Martha. "Oh, this was my favourite page!" he cried. Then realizing what he said, he tried to amend it. "I was really proud of those drawings."

"I'm _so_ sorry, John," Rose pleaded.

"It's not your fault," he sighed, subtly glaring at Martha again. He didn't like that it had upset Rose. Then an idea came to him. "Tell you what, how about you stop by and I can do some more." He grinned at her and was pleased when she grinned back and nodded.

"That would be lovely, John."

"If you'll excuse me," Nurse Redfern's tart voice interrupted them. "I do believe I'm finished here. I should best leave." And without looking back, she strutted from the room. Both Rose and Martha were smugly pleased to see the sour look on her face as she passed by.

Rose was even more pleased to see that John didn't really appear to care.

**?...DW…?**

Martha carefully carried three glasses of beer out to the table. She gasped when the icy wind hit her.

"Ooh! It's freezing out here!" she cried, putting the glasses down on the table for she, Jenny and Rose. "Why can't we have a drink inside the pub?"

"Now don't be ridiculous," Jenny said. "It's all very well those Suffragettes; but that's London, that's miles away."

"But don't you wanna scream sometimes, having to bow and scrape and behave?" Martha asked. "Don't you just wanna tell them?"

"I dunno," she replied.

"Aw, come on Jenny," Rose encouraged. "Power to the women! You just wait, one day we're gonna have woman Prime Ministers and Presidents and votes and Judges and Chairmen. And one day everyone will be equal no matter what gender or rank or ethnicity or species!" she cried, getting a little carried away.

"Species?" Jenny laughed. "You say the maddest things sometimes Miss Tyler!"

"Just Rose, please. I mean, we're drinking together so why not."

"Alright then Rose. I'll drink to that!"

"Cheers!" the three of them laughed chinking their glasses together and taking a swig.

"Still don't know about the 'power to the women' thing though. Things must be different where you two are from."

"Yeah, well they are," Martha said. "Thank god we're not staying."

"You keep saying that," Jenny smiled, hinting that they were still here.

"Just you wait," Martha replied, her voice sounding far off. "One more month and we're free as the wind. I wish you could come with us, Jenny - you'd love it!"

"Where are you gonna go?"

"Anywhere!" Rose grinned jumping up. "Everywhere! Anywhere you could ever think of! All the way out and beyond! Past the stars!" she began spinning as she looked up at the sky. "Just look up there. Imagine you could go all the way out to the stars. See things people could only dream of!"

"I say it again, mad Rose. Just mad!" Jenny giggled and Martha joined in.

"Well that's where we're going," Rose laughed too. "Into the sky, all the way out!"

Martha was happy to see Rose having so much fun. She'd been slightly more secluded than usual since the Doctor had changed. But over the last few days she had been brightening up. The way she acted around John was less forced and she was becoming her happy, bubbly self again.

Suddenly she spotted a bright green light flash up in the sky. A look of concern flitted across her face. There was no way that had been natural.

"Did you see that?" she asked.

"See what?" Rose asked, stopping her dancing.

"Did you see it though?" she stood up. "Right up there, just for a second." The other women looked up to where she was pointing.

"Martha, there's nothing there," Jenny told her. But Martha didn't look convinced.

"What was it?" Rose asked her in a low voice, so Jenny couldn't hear.

"I dunno. A light. A green light, just a flash and then it was gone… Do you think it was them?"

"I hope not," she said.

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Suddenly they looked around as the Matron came sprinting down the road. She looked scared.

"Matron, are you alright?" Martha asked her.

"Did you see that?" she cried breathlessly. "There was something in the woods… this light…" Rose and Martha looked at each other in worry.

"Anything wrong, ladies?" they all turned to see John walking from the pub, hat in hand. The coat he was wearing was so reminiscent of his trench coat that Rose found herself smiling, despite the situation. "Far too cold to be standing around in the dark," he continued. "Don't you-"

"There!" Nurse Redfern cut him off, pointing upwards. "There, look in the sky!"

They all watched as a green light shot across the sky, like a shooting star. Matron looked scared, Martha and Rose looked worried and John and Jenny looked mystified.

"Oh, that's beautiful," Jenny gasped.

"All gone," John said. "Commonly known as a meteorite. It's just rocks falling to the ground, that's all," he told them with a placating tone, as if they didn't know any better.

"It came down in the woods!" Matron cried.

"No, no, no. They always look close, when actually they're miles off. Nothing left but a cinder." Then he turned to Rose. "Now, would you allow me to escort you back to the school? Ladies?"

"No thank you, I need a strong drink," Matron told them shakily. John nodded in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Rose once again. Smiling she nodded and linked her arm thorough the one he was offering. Then she shot a meaningful look at Martha. Martha nodded in reply, knowing exactly what she planned.

They had to look after him. If it _was_ the Family, it would make sense to split up. One to see if it was them, and one to keep an eye on John.

"Err, Martha? J…Jenny?" he almost questioned her name, as if he weren't sure what it was.

"No, we're fine thanks," Martha told him distractedly.

"Then I shall bid you goodnight," he smiled at them. But it wasn't until he turned back to Rose that his full smile came to life. He placed his hat on his head and together, they walked off back to the school. Rose was almost glad for the hat. Her urge to spike his hair up still hadn't subsided after two months.

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Martha waited until they were out of earshot until she rounded on her friend. "Jenny, where was that? On the horizon, where the light was headed."

"That's by Coopers Field," she replied. Martha ran in the direction of the light. "You can't just run off!" Jenny cried after her. "It's dark, you'll break a leg!"

When Martha didn't stop, or even acknowledge her, she sighed and followed. After all, someone had to make sure that girl didn't get into trouble.

When they finally reached the field, both puffing and panting, they were faced with an empty stretch of grass. There was nothing there, no ship or even a lump of rock or something to indicate a landing. Just a wide open field.

"There you are," Jenny puffed. "Nothing there. I told you so."

"And that's Coopers Field?" Martha queried.

"As far as the eye can see, and no falling star," Jenny told her, "Now come on, I'm frozen to the bone, let's go. As your Mr Smith says, 'Nothing to see'." She started walking back, but Martha stayed behind a moment longer, just gazing out over the field. She had been so sure it was them.

**?...DW…?**

Rose sighed as she sunk into the soft arm chair in her room. She held the Journal of Impossible Things to her chest, but it was not what she was thinking about. It was very late, but she couldn't sleep. She wasn't sure if she did want to sleep because she knew she would have the same nightmare.

Being a resident of the TARDIS, she was no stranger to nightmares. Some of the things that she had faced had been so horrible. Daleks, Cybermen… the Beast. They had all given her nightmares. But none of them compared to this. Because they could only hurt her. And they were dreams. But this… this was a memory. Even now she could see it.

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"_Rose," the Doctor said to her, holding a watch up in his hands. "This watch is me." She watched as he gave her the watch and frantically dashed around the console._

"_Right, okay," she said in confusion. "…Sorry what? Completely lost."_

"_Those creatures are hunters," he explained. "They can sniff out anyone. And me being a Time Lord, well, I'm unique! They can track me down across the whole of time and space."_

"_And the good news is?" she prompted, laughing hollowly._

"_They can smell me, they haven't seen me," he said as he continued to press buttons and pull switches. Some that she had never seen him touch before. "And their life supplies are running out, so we hide. Wait for them to die."_

"_But you said they can track us!"_

_Suddenly he stopped running and looked at her seriously, taking her by the arms. "That's why I've got to do it," he said in a low voice. "I have to stop being a Time Lord. I'm going to become human."_

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At the time Rose had felt so many emotions. She was scared and worried… but at his words, she felt a tiny bit of hope. The Doctor as a human. Perhaps… no. But then all that hope had immediately been erased.

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_The three of them watched as a strange helmet of some kind lowered down to his reach on a thick cable._

"_Never thought I'd use this," he said almost in a daze. "All the times I've wondered."_

"_What does it do?" Martha asked._

"_Chameleon Arch. Rewrites my biology. Literally changes every single cell in my body. I've set it to human." He took the watch from her and clicked it into the headpiece. "Now, the TARDIS will take care of everything. Invent a life story for me, find me a setting and integrate me. Can't do the same for you two sorry, you'll just have to improvise. I should have just enough residual awareness to let you in."_

_While he had been explaining all this, she'd only had one thing going through her mind. She remembered back to when he had regenerated, his pain as every single cell in his body had died. His pain as he had changed them._

"_Hold on," she said in a shaky voice. "If you're going to rewrite every single cell… isn't that going to hurt?"_

"_Oh yeah. It'll hurt," he said nonchalantly, but she could hear the underlying fear in his voice. He seemed to bounce on the balls of his feet for a moment, as if he were indecisive. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side. Only then did he let his confident mask slip. "I-" he started. "…I really don't want you to see this," he said quietly. "I might need Martha there just in case something happens… But - but you don't have to stay if you don't want to." Rose only stared at him with wide eyes. She sensed he had more to say. That even though he was giving her the option, he really didn't want her to take it. When she didn't agree to leave, he carried on. "I'm scared," he admitted in a whisper. "I don't want you to see this, but… would you please say? Please Rose, stay with me," his voice cracked. Rose knew him well enough that if he continued talking, tears would soon come._

"_I'll stay," she whispered. "I'll never leave you."_

_That said, he picked her up in a tight, desperate embrace. To Rose it felt like a goodbye. She didn't quite understand why at that time. She hadn't been listing all that well when he'd explained it earlier. She had been too worried about him._

"_See you in three months," he said as he put her down, trying to put on a smile for her sake._

_._

The next hour had been horrible. She closed her eyes and tried to block out that horrible image. But it remained burned at the back of her mind. She could still see it. Still see him shaking and convulsing as he screamed in agony. All she could do was stand by helplessly as he changed painfully into a human.

After nearly about an hour of watching him scream, he began to fall unconscious. But she still couldn't unhook him, it wasn't complete yet.

She didn't know what made her do it, nor where the words came from. But she sat down next to his shuddering figure, comforting him, and began to sing. The words just flowed through her, beautiful and sweet. She didn't even know what language she was singing. But she knew it would make him better.

As her sweet voice poured over him, he began to relax slightly. It was as if her words and her voice were driving away his pain.

Thinking of that song relaxed her a little too. Perhaps now she could go to sleep. And tomorrow she could go and check on the TARDIS. The poor old girl would be lonely. She probably needed someone to talk to her.

With the happier thought of seeing the TARDIS, she changed for bed and curled up. The Journal still in her hands.


	41. Human Nature, Good Deeds

_**Just re-posted this because I have fixed a few spelling errors and also added a small new part to the end of one scene to explain (fix) a continuity issue. If you've already read this chapter and want to just skip to it, it's at the end of the shooting scene.**_

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**Good Deeds**

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Hearing a small knock on the door, John stood and opened it. Timothy Latimer stood there. He was smaller than most boys his age, and most certainly more timid. But there was something about him. He was smart beyond his years, easily the brightest in his class. And he seemed to know more than he ever let on. So he didn't quite understand why he held back so much.

"You told me to come and collect that book, Sir," he said politely.

"Good lad, yes," then he recalled their conversation a few days earlier. "Yes! 'The Definitive Account of Mafeking' by Aitchinson Price… Where did I put it?" He walked to his desk and his eyes fell on the pile of books Rose had bought him the day before. Searching through them, he picked up the one he was after and handed it to Timothy who had slowly followed behind him. "And I wanted a little word," he went on. "Your marks aren't quite good enough."

"I'm top ten in my class, Sir," the boy said slightly confused.

"Now, be honest, Timothy," he said. "You should be the very top. You're a clever boy, but you seem to be hiding it. And I know why. Keeping your head low avoids the mockery of your classmates. But no man should hide himself, don't you think?"

"Yes, Sir…" Timothy said distractedly.

"Oh! I have something else you might like to read too, just a moment." He turned away to search for the book, carrying on with what he had been saying as he did so. "You're clever. You should be proud of it. Use it." Finally he found the book in his small office library and walked back with it. "Fascinating details about the siege, really quite remarkable." Suddenly he seemed to notice that Timothy was looking pale and distracted. He even looked a little startled and… guilty? "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. Fine, Sir," he answered quickly and not very convincingly. But he was a teenage boy, they had all sorts of troubles going on that they could sort out for themselves. After all, he was a young man, almost an adult and he would have to learn to deal with his own troubles soon enough.

"Right then. Good," he said. "And remember, use that brain of yours!" He handed over the book, and when their hands connected Timothy turned a shade paler and got a far off distracted look in his eye. Suddenly he gasped as if startled. There was a small look of fear in his eyes as he looked back up at the teacher. "You're really not looking yourself, old chap. Anything bothering you?"

"No, Sir… Thank you, Sir," the boy said sounding rather shaken. Then tucking the two books under his arm, he walked quickly from the room. John didn't notice the glint of silver flash in his pocket.

**?...DW…?**

John tried not to wince as the sound of rapid fire gunshots rung across the school field. He wasn't fond of the fact he had to teach this class. He would rather it be left off the curriculum.

"Concentrate," he told the boys, trying his hardest to direct the class. The boy firing at the moment hit the target every time and the only thing he supposed he could do was encourage him. "Hutchinson, excellent work!" he told him. The boys resumed their shooting and he spotted the Headmaster approaching.

"Cease fire!" the Headmaster commanded when he reached them. The boys obeyed.

"Good day to you, Headmaster," John greeted.

"Your crew's on fine form today, Mr Smith," the Headmaster commented.

"Excuse me, Headmaster. We could do a lot better," Hutchinson interrupted. "Latimer is being deliberately shoddy."

"I'm trying my best!" the boy in question protested.

"You need to be better than the best," the Headmaster told Timothy. "Those are tribesmen form the Dark Continent."

"That's exactly the problem, Sir," Timothy said. "They only have spears."

"Oh, dear me. Latimer takes it upon himself to make us realise how wrong we all are. I hope, Latimer, that one day you may have a just and proper war in which to prove yourself. Now, resume firing."

Hutchinson began firing again as Latimer fed the bullets to the gun. When they ran out, he only sat there as if in a dream. When he blinked out of it, Hutchinson was calling commands to him.

"Stoppage. Immediate action," he said. He turned to see Latimer somewhat in a state of shock. "Didn't I tell you, Sir?" he said to the Headmaster. "This stupid boy is useless! Permission to give Latimer a beating, Sir."

"It's your class, Mr Smith," the Headmaster said.

"Permission not granted!" John said with a hint of disgust. He couldn't believe that not only were the teachers allowed to beat the children, but the students were as well! "Latimer, you must pay attention. Do you understand? The real world may not be as kind as me. And god forbid, you have the _misfortune_ of going to war, you must be ready. Now please work harder and concentrate or I shall have to find a punishment for you. Please continue."

The other students look disgruntled as they continued to fire, but Latimer looked relieved. The Headmaster was looking at John with a bit of a scowl.

"Mr Smith, you do have that cane _for__a__reason_," he said.

"And a horrid one it is, Sir," John said, although he still said it with respect. "These boys don't need to be beaten manners and discipline. Hard work, yes. A firm talking to, yes. But violence will only result in violence. We are training these boys to be respectable adults. We do not beat adults, therefore we should not beat children."

"Hmm," the headmaster looked at him down through his glasses. "I do not entirely agree, but I see merit in your opinion, Mr Smith."

"Thank you, Sir," he nodded, glad that he hadn't taken it the wrong way. The Headmaster bid him goodbye and left him to his class. He heard a sniff beside him and he turned to see Jeremy Baines looking at him strangely. "Anything the matter, Baines?"

"I though… No, Sir. Nothing, Sir," the boy replied. Then he turned sharply and went to join the rest of the class.

Snapping out of the small daze he was in, he turned back to his class. "Err, Pemberton, Smythe, Wicks, take post," he commanded. As he looked back at the school, he spotted Rose standing nearby, watching him and the boys' fire. He walked over towards her. "Ah, Rose…" he said happily. Then he noticed that she looked rather disturbed. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Oh, err, pardon me Mr Smith," she stuttered. He frowned at the formality she was using. "Sorry, but I distain guns."

"Yes, yes I quite agree," he said. "Horrid things." Hearing him say this seemed to make her look a little happier.

"I can't believe they teach such vial strategies to _school__boys!_"

"Mmm, believe me," he told her. "I wouldn't be teaching it if it weren't mandatory. I feel so guilty that I'm the one having to teach them to handle such a weapon." He normally wouldn't admit this to anyone… but there was just something about Rose that made him want to tell her everything. Rose looked at him, a smile gracing her already beautiful face.

"You're a good man, John," she said softly. He couldn't help but smile back. Then her face brightened as she remembered something, and she took his Journal out form on of her deep pockets. "Here I thought you might like to have this back."

"Oh, no. you don't have to give it back," he told her. it almost saddened him to think that she wanted to give it back… even if he did want to record some more dreams in it.

"I just thought that perhaps you would have had more dreams by now. That maybe you'd have wanted to write them in. do some more of your drawings," she smiled at him. "I'm really enjoying reading them. Your stories are incredible!"

"Thank you," he accepted her complement. Knowing this made him feel much better about tacking his Journal. "Yes, you're quite right. Give me something to do in my free time… Speaking of which, have you any plans for tomorrow?"

**?...DW…?**

The next day was a Saturday and they were all allowed to have the day off. John had invited Rose to accompany him in a walk through the village. He really hadn't spent enough time alone with her over the last two months as he would have liked. So he had been overjoyed when she had accepted.

They walked though the streets, hand in hand, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"I saw what you did yesterday," she told him. "Standing up for Timmy like that. It was nice. He cops a lot of flack from those boys. He comes into the library a lot, because they know I'll lay into them if they tease him. I wish he had enough confidence to stand up for himself. But I don't mind yelling at them. They won't listen, but I think they get annoyed at me after a while and would rather stay away."

John laughed; he had never met such a confident straightforward woman. "Yes, well, he's a clever boy. He seems to have been having a rough few days. He seems rather troubled and distracted." He saw the look on her face and stopped walking. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she strained a smile. "I just hate that this age is so violent. Beatings to keep kids in line, teaching them to fight… I've seen the effects of war on people I love. It separates families, causes so much pain… And now I find myself part of a school that teaches boys how to kill. And they tell them it's a good thing. When they are in war they won't find it quite as _fun,_" she said bitterly. Then she realised she'd accidently said 'when' instead of 'if'.

"Well," he sighed. "Great Britain's at peace, long may it reign."

She was slightly surprised he said with without a shadow of a doubt, despite the fact he had reason to. "In your Journal, one of your… _stories._ You wrote about next year, 1914." She was very glad that they would be gone by then. But she felt so horrid knowing that many people in this village may die, and she could do nothing to stop it.

"That was just a dream," he told her calmingly.

She _so_wanted to warn people. "But all those images of mud and wire. You told of a shadow, a shadow falling across the entire world."

"Well, then we can be thankful it's not true," he smiled at her comfortingly, not quite understanding the source of her distress. "And I'll admit mankind doesn't need warfare and bloodshed to prove itself. Everyday life can provide honour and valour and… Let's hope that from now on this - this country can… can find heroes in smaller places…" he gazed off at one of the shops, looking very distracted. "…in the most… ordinary of… of deeds!"

Suddenly he reached over and snatched a cricket ball from a child beside him. In one swift throw, it hit some pipes leaning against the scaffolding, setting off a chain reaction. The pipes fell, hitting a plank of wood. The wood acted as a catapult and flung a brick from off its end. The brick went up over a piano that was being hauled into the air, and looked as if it were about to drop. The brick hit a bunch of milk-churns from off a cart and fell in the way of a woman walking her pram. It stopped her just in time as the rope holding up the piano snapped, and it came crashing down right were she would have been.

For a moment all they could do was stare in shock as the people by the accident rushed around making sure the woman and her child were okay.

"Lucky," he gasped out.

"That was luck!" Rose cried incredulously. She gazed up at him with a wide grin. There was no doubt that he had seen what would happen and calculated what to do. It would have taken a genius to do it. And he'd done it with out a second thought, just like the Doctor. Her grin spread wider. He really was her Doctor.

"Miss Rose Tyler," he said turning to face her. "Might I invite you to the village dance this evening… as my guest?"

"Of course," she laughed joyously. "Of course, you extraordinary man!" John joined in, laughing with her and they both turned back to the almost fatal scene. Neither were too sure why exactly they were laughing. But they didn't care.

"That really was an extraordinary shot back there," Rose said as they walked past the farms later that day. "I didn't know you were good at cricket."

"Oh yes, I used to play back when I was a younger lad," he told her. "Though, I have to admit, I never realised I had such a talent for it."

"I didn't know you could draw either. Where did you learn to draw like that?" She smiled thinking that the Doctor would have said something funny about leaning from DaVinci in trid for scientific knowledge or something. However what he actually said surprised her even more.

"Gallifrey," he said matter of factly.

Oh, crap. He was starting to let slip. He hadn't said or done many things that would cause her to think he remembered being the Doctor, other than his dreams. But he had just said Gallifrey as if it were part of normal life. She hoped that nothing was going wrong… How the hell was she going to cover this up?

"Gallifrey… is that in Ireland?" she asked, remembering that once she had thought that it was a rather Gaelic sounding name. She recalled that once he had been to Ireland. They had apparently been very interested in his Gallifreyan writing and it had inspired the Celtic knot.

John looked confused for a moment. "Yes. It must be, yes," he said uncertainly.

"Oh, look. That scarecrow is all askew!" she said trying to distract him. Something she had become very good at over the last few months, and something that was even easier recently since he quite often had his human head in the clouds.

"Right, shall we fix it up then?" he smiled walking on to the field and started setting it straight. Rose stood back from it a little. She didn't like scarecrows. She had to repress a shudder, but John saw. "Are you cold?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine. It's just that those things give me the creeps. I read a scary book about scarecrows that came to life, when I was little."

"Mmm, sounds like something that would fit into the Doctor's world," he laughed. "Okay, done. What do you think?"

"It's a masterpiece," Rose joked. He smiled back at her.

"Speaking of which," he offered her his arm and she looped her arm through it, "how would you like to do that drawing today?"

At the prospect of being with her Doc- John all day, she smiled her cheeky, tongue in teeth grin. "I would love to," she told him.

Then the two of them carried on down the road. Not noticing as the scarecrow's head turned to follow them.

**?...DW…?**

John finished the sketch, smudging the background and then lowered the book.

"Can I see?" Rose asked him eagerly. John moved over onto the sofa so he was sitting next to her. And he held the Journal out for her to see.

On one side of the page must be a few sketches he had done of her earlier by memory, because he wouldn't have had time to do them. There was one of her doing her tongue in teeth grin, one of her sitting deep in thought as she read a book. All the small pictures were shots of things that were noticed by someone who spent a lot of time memorising each expression.

Then on the next page was the one he had just done. Her sitting there in her old fashioned dress, her hair falling down from its bun so it curled around her face, her eyes bright and her smile sweet. She looked beautiful.

"Oh, goodness…" she gasped softly. "Do I really look like that?" She laughed as she flipped through the pages to land on the one with a picture of Slitheen. "Are you sure that's not me?" she joked. The Doctor would have found that even funnier, considering their history with the Slitheen. But John didn't laugh at all. He looked up at her with soft brown eyes and gave her a fond smile.

"Most definitely this page, I should think," he said going back to the pages of her.

"You've made me far too beautiful," she told him.

"Well, that's how I see you," he told her honestly. The way he was looking at her making her breath hitch. He was so close to her, gazing at her with such feeling.

"R-really?"

"Well, mostly," he smiled. "Personally I don't think I've done this beautiful face justice."

Rose held her breath as he reached up and fondly brushed a piece of hair from her face, slowly trailing his hand back down her cheek. Ever so hesitantly he leant forward, almost testing as he tilted his head to kiss her. Rose knew she shouldn't, but she found herself gravitating towards him. Then his lips were on hers and he was kissing her softly. All too soon it was over, but they didn't move back a breath further.

"I've never, um…" he seemed not to know what he was saying, nor what to say next. So instead he pressed his lips to hers once more. The second kiss was more passionate and loving and she found herself responding eagerly. She knew she shouldn't, she _really_ shouldn't. But she couldn't help herself.

Suddenly there was a rattle from the door and they broke apart. John looked rather annoyed at the interruption. "Martha, what have I told you about entering unannounced?" he snapped.

Martha just stood staring at them in shock before squeaking out a sorry and running from the room. The interruption however had shaken Rose back to her senses and she stood quickly, tucking the Journal into her pocket.

"You don't have to leave," John told her.

"I-I should probably go get ready for tonight anyway," she said. In a rush to escape, she turned away. But she saw the kicked puppy look on his face and melted. Before she had even taken a step towards the door, she turned back and kissed him on the cheek.

Giving him a last smile, she all but ran from the room. She didn't stop running until she had reached her room. There she slid down the door, hand pressed to her mouth, and collapsed to the floor, tears of confusion running silently down her cheeks.


	42. Human Nature, Its Him

**It's Him**

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The door crashed open as Martha stormed into Rose's room. Rose looked up in shock, but said nothing. She wouldn't have had the chance to anyway, as Martha began her rant immediately.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she cried incredulously. "I know you love the Doctor, but _that_ is _not_ the Doctor! That is John Smith. He is human and-" she stopped mid rant when she noticed that Rose appeared to have been crying. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Rose sniffed. "It's just… God, I know I shouldn't but I can't help it. I see that face and I - I just…" She sat heavily into her chair. "But you're wrong. It is him. He's still the Doctor. I just spent all day with him, he saved a woman from being crushed by a falling piano with a cricket ball, and he mentioned Gallifrey… He's more like the Doctor than we thought he'd be. He even hates guns and he refuses to beat the students. Every choice he makes is exactly the choice the Doctor would have made… Although, with me…" Here she stopped and took a shuddering breath. "Choosing me like that is the only un-Doctor like thing I've seen him do."

Martha had to bite her tongue so she didn't point out that that was _very_ much like the Doctor. Only it seems he didn't have the same reservations and limitations as he did as a Time Lord. "And I just…" Rose carried on, unaware of Martha's hesitation. "It's hard. I try to stop myself but it's hard. Because he's just so him. And it's wrong, I know. But he's finally showing me the affection I've been longing for, for years! Oh god! What if he remembers when he's really himself again?"

"Then just tell him that you love him," Martha suggested.

"What and risk being rejected and kicked off the TARDIS? I don't have anywhere to go Martha. He is quite literally, all I have left. My mother and best friend are gone. I have no one left back on Earth. And even then I wouldn't _want_to go back because I don't want to leave him."

"Honestly Rose, I don't think he'll mind," she tried to comfort the girl. "And if you _really_ don't want him to know then you could always tell him you didn't want to upset John. And that if John loved you, we could have used that to convince him to change back faster."

"No!" she suddenly cried. "I am not using him like that! I would never use his… fondness of me to manipulate him!" She closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. "I'm supposed to be going to the dance with him tonight. Should I still go?"

"Yeah, course you should," Martha told her. "I mean, it's keeping an eye on him. It's keeping him happy. And we don't want him thinking that anything is wrong. So I think you'll be okay as long as you don't shag him when you get back."

Rose's mouth dropped open and her cheeks burned bright red. "Martha!" she cried in horror. She didn't think she would let it get _that_ far with _John_. Although, that all depended on her rather weak 'Doctor' self control.

Martha didn't even apologise, she only giggled as she left the room. "Have fun!" she called back. Groaning at the possibilities of what was running through Martha's head, Rose stood and began her walk to the TARDIS to find a dress.

**?...DW…?**

An hour later, Rose stood in John's study. He was staring at her mouth agape as she twirled on the spot, her pretty 1910's dress flaring out a little as she spun.

"You look wonderful!" John finally managed to get out.

"Thank you," she said shyly. Then a thought occurred to her. "Um… can - can you actually dance, John?" She tried to ignore the emptiness she felt that he didn't remember all the dancing jokes they had shared over the years. But she actually had a valid point this time… Well, she had every time considering the first, she didn't know. And the second, he had a new body. But this time… she had noticed (it was hard not to) that he was rather (extremely) clumsy.

"Um…" he paused in thought. "I'm not certain…"

"Is there anything you _are_ certain about?" she laughed.

"Yes," he said confidently, walking towards her until she could feel his breath on her face. "Yes, there is."

She barely had enough time for her breath to hitch before his lips were pressed against hers for the third time that day. Rose tried to remember that she was supposed to be keeping this to a minimum… But the way he was kissing her was making her mind well and truly fuzzy. She began to melt in his arms as the kiss deepened. She knew that she was responding just as passionately. She could feel his hands running over her body of their own accord and she moaned into his mouth.

But her eyes widened when she felt his hand slip further up her thigh and she realised what she was doing.

"Mmm, John," she gasped breaking the kiss. "We - we should get going to the dance, yeah?" she said breathlessly.

"Oh, right… yes," he replied a little guiltily as he stepped back.

Stupid! They had been friends for years, but they had only just managed to get past that friends line. It was too soon to do anything like that just yet! He hadn't even realised what he was doing. He had been too consumed by the thoughts and desire of her. And she was so young, in all the time he'd known her, he didn't think she'd even glanced at other men. He didn't know if she'd ever been with a man like that before. And here he was pushing her along way too fast. He almost felt ashamed. But even still, he found it hard to hold down his disappointment.

"Right, lets go," he said putting on a smile and offering his arm. The smile was slightly forced, but became more genuine at the memory of Rose in his arms. The way she had kissed him, and the feel of her body pressed against his, just as he'd wanted for so long… No! Bad, John, bad thoughts!

.

After a short walk, John and Rose made it to the front of the village hall. John gave the man at the door a donation and they entered into the warm, bright hall. People were standing about talking and drinking. A few people were already on the dance floor.

They had hardly been there a few minutes when the announcer took to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced. "Please take your partners for a waltz!"

The two of them smiled at each other, and John swept her out onto the floor. They took their places and began to dance as the music started. Rose laughed as he spun her around gracefully. His dancing was perfect as ever.

"So, you _do_ have the movies!" she giggled.

"I've quite surprised myself," he grinned. They bumped into another couple who were dancing and he apologised. This caused Rose to giggle and he smiled down at her. He knew then that he loved her more than anything.

.

Rose sat down weakly as John went to get the two of them drinks. They had been dancing for at least half an hour now. And quite frankly, she was left breathless from the last dance. It hadn't been fast paced; in fact it had been the opposite. The song had been slow and sweet and she had rested her head against John's chest, listening to his single heartbeat. That had been what surprised her. Of all the things - the closeness, the loving way he held her, the kiss he had pressed to her head, the feeling of love and undying passion she would feel from him… The only thing that was different to all the times she had danced with the Doctor was the lack of a second heartbeat. And despite that, it still felt like home.

"Rose!" Martha's voice broke her out of her reverie. She instantly noted her panicked tone.

"Martha, what's wrong?" she asked standing up and facing the girl.

"Do you have the watch? God, please tell me you have the watch!" Martha gasped. She grabbed onto a chair to support herself, breathing heavily. She must have run from the school as fast as she could.

"Didn't John leave it on his mantle?" she asked.

"No!" Martha cried. "It's gone! I've looked everywhere. And I do mean _everywhere_. Even his clothing pockets and the bottom of his desk draws! It's nowhere! And they're here, Rose. The Family are here, and they've taken over Jenny!"

Rose went cold and her heart skipped a beat, clenching painfully.

"Martha, are you alright?" John asked appearing beside them with two drinks. He placed them on the table as he turned to his friend.

"Do you have that fob watch that was on your mantle?" she blurted out.

"Erm… no," he said, his tone sounding more like a question. Rose realised that he was struggling to remember if he even owned a watch.

She was trying not to let Martha's panic affect her too. But this was her Doctor, her John. She couldn't let harm fall to either of them. With a pale face, she turned to the man next to her.

"John," she said in a low voice. "We have to tell you something. And it's going to be hard, and it will seem impossible, but it's true."

"Oh, we don't have time to be gentle, Rose!" Martha only just managed to keep her voice down. "This is not you," she told him, wiggling her fingers at him. "This is 1913! You aren't supposed to be here. You're not even supposed to be human. You're the Doctor. The same Doctor from your dreams!"

John looked at her in bemusement, then he let out a nervously laugh. "Oh, I see… Martha… that book I gave to Rose, it's not real. I made it up. Just crazy stories."

"Don't talk to me like I'm thick," Martha chided. "You _are_the Doctor. You turned yourself human to escape some aliens that were hunting you. But now they've found you and we need to wake you up. So we _have_to find that watch."

"Really, Martha, this is going too far!" he said starting to get angry.

"John, just listen to her," Rose pleaded. "We need to find-"

"You believe her!" he cried incredulously, sounding rather hurt.

Rose didn't know what to say, she looked at the ground, unable to look him in the eye as she told him. "Y-yes," she told him quietly. "John, they're not just dreams. It's real, all of it. Please you have to believe us…" her words faltered when she saw the look on his face.

"God, I knew this would happen!" Martha grumbled. "Good thing I bought this." From her pocket she drew out the sonic-screwdriver. John looked at it in curiosity and shock and recognition. "Do you know what this is?" she asked him. "Name it. Go on, name it."

John took it from her hands and looked at it as if he were seeing something impossible, but knew he was in a dream. Only this time, he wasn't.

"You're not John Smith," Rose said quietly, trying not to choke on her words. "You're the Doctor. The man in your Journal is real. He's you."

.

Suddenly the doors swung open with a loud crash and three people stormed in. They were an odd bunch. One was a large portly man with a thick moustache and nice clothing. One was a boy from the school, Jeremy Baines. And the third was Jenny. All three of them were wielding guns.

All around them people screamed and called out and huddled together at the edges of the room.

"There will be silence! All of you!" the man shouted, waving his obviously alien gun at everybody. Behind them came a small bunch of those creepy scarecrows and Rose shivered. She somehow doubted that they were people dressed up. Talk about a nightmare come true! "I said silence!" he shouted again when no one complied.

"Mr Clarke! What's going on?" the announcer asked in bewilderment. With out any hesitation, the man who was formerly Mr Clarke, turned and shot the announcer, dissolving him to nothing. There were more cries of panic from the villagers.

"Mr Smith," Martha said quietly. "Everything we just told you, forget it. Don't say anything."

Rose took the sonic-screwdriver from him and hid it behind her back.

"We asked for silence!" the former Jeremy Baines shouted, raising his gun to the crowd. He didn't continue till nearly every whimper had died down. "Now then," he said in his naturally snide voice. "We have a few questions for Mr Smith."

John looked startled and confused as the three of them rounded on him. Rose clung to him protectively.

"No, better than that," came a young voice. They saw a cute little girl with a red balloon moving through the crowd to the Family. "The teacher. He's the Doctor. I heard them talking," she informed them.

"Well done, Daughter of mine," the former Jenny gushed.

"You took human form!" Son of Blood all but laughed.

"Of course I'm human, I was _born_ human!" John cried. "As were you, Baines. And Jenny, and you, Mr Clarke!" They just stared at him. "What's going on, this is madness!"

"And a simple human brain, too!" Brother of Blood sneered. "Simple thick and dull." At this Sister of Blood giggled.

"He's no good like this," Mother of Blood said with Jenny's voice.

"We need a Time Lord," Father of Blood put in.

"Easily done," Brother of Blood said. He stepped forward and trained his gun at John. He and Rose recoiled back a step. Rose tried to stand in front of John, but he was trying to do the same for her. "Change back," he growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" John cried.

"Change back!" he repeated a little more forcefully.

"I literally do _not_ know-" he was cut short when Mother of blood jumped forward and seized Martha, holding her gun to her head. While he was distracted by that, Father of Blood did the same to Rose. John was left standing in the middle. The two people he cared about most, held at gun point before him.

"Get off me!" Rose growled, something wild flashing in her eyes.

"They're you friends," Mother of Blood said. "And that one's apparently a little more than that," she nodded to Rose. "Doesn't this scare you enough to change back?"

"But, I don't know what you mean!" he cried starting to really panic.

"Have you enjoyed it, Doctor?" Brother of Blood asked. "Being human? Has it taught you wonderful things? Are you better, richer, wiser? Let's see you answer this, then. Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid, or Librarian? Your friend, or your lover? Your choice."

John looked on, absolutely horrified. Faced with four insane people and the desperate eyes of his best friend and the woman he loved.

And he didn't know what to do.

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_**Oh no's! Now they have Martha AND Rose. Poor Doctor… err, John.**_

_**Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than usual. I'll hopefully make it up to you with an extra long last chapter for Family of Blood. At the very least you'll love it because it has more Rose Plot twists!**_

_**Hope you liked it!**_

_**Please Review! I love reading all the reviews I get. I get such an ego boost that I feel like the Doctor when he gets complimented. I even have his amazing sense of modesty =D (So next to none). Over 300 reviews now! I'm so happy and I love all of you who give me your constant support!**_


	43. The Family of Blood, Scent

_**Hello! Sorry I was a bit slow again. Now not only do I have the worry of a new house. But unlike most people, holidays is the most full out time for me. I work at the local library and the kids have a reading program during the holidays… hence I get more work.**_

_**But don't worry, despite the fact that I have the new house to renovate and unpack, extra work hours, my own book to try and finish, AND two other Doctor Who fanfics to work on… I WILL get up dates out. Most likely anywhere between 1 day and 2 weeks at the moment. I'll try to be as fast as I can without getting sloppy. Good thing I've already gotten a few pages of Blink written and about 2 chapters of Utopia!**_

_**Anyway, Enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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***The Family of Blood***

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**Scent**

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John stood there absolutely helpless as insane people asked him to do something impossible. The death of his loved ones hanging over him if he didn't comply.

"Make your decision Mr Smith," Mother of Blood hissed.

John knew who he would pick. Rose, every time in an instant. He would always do all he could to keep her safe. But he wasn't that kind of person. He could never choose one life over another… not even if it was over someone he loved… especially when the other life was someone he cared about too. He refused to choose. Because he couldn't let anyone die.

"Perhaps if that human heart breaks, the Time Lord will emerge," Brother of Blood smiled cruelly.

"Mmm, defiantly shoot that one then," Sister of Blood giggled. Having watched everyone here tonight, she had seen the way he had looked at the blonde woman in her father's vessel's arms.

John's eyes widened in terror as Father of Blood pressed his gun tighter to Rose's head, his finger itching to pull the trigger. As if to taunt the man further he leant in and smelled her, breathing in deeply - Then he stopped. He went from taunting to surprised and grinned.

"Wait, do you scent that?" he asked his family. "She smells good."

The rest of the family simultaneously took a deep breath through the nose, smelling Rose.

"Perhaps we could use _her_ instead," Sister of Blood suggested.

.

Just then something hit their senses. They sensed the presence of the Time Lord. Somehow the watch had opened for the briefest of seconds. But Rose felt it too. It was just a small nudge in her mind, but she could feel where it was. She looked over to see Timothy Latimer dashing out the door.

"Tim!" she shouted in warning as Brother of Blood tried to shoot the boy. But thankfully he was already out of the building.

"It's him!" Brother of Blood shouted. He knew the boy somehow had the Time Lord, the part they needed… He just didn't know _how_.

Suddenly in the bustle and confusion, Martha used the distraction and ripped the gun from Mother of Blood's hands, reversing their positions. Rose wasn't strong enough to do the same considering the size of Father of Blood. But while they were preoccupied by the sudden hostage switch, she took the sonic-screwdriver from behind her back and made his gun spark, causing him to release her. She ran back to John's side.

"One more move and I shoot!" Martha warned them, pressing the gun to the possessed woman's head.

"Oh, the maid is _full_ of fire!" Brother of Blood shouted manically.

"And you can shut up!" Martha shouted fiercely. She quickly pointed the gun to the ceiling and shot before pressing it back against Mother of Blood, half pointed at her, half at the rest of the Family. It was a little overboard… but it worked in movies.

"Careful Son of Mine," Father of Blood cautioned. "She's all for you so that you can live forever."

"Shoot you down!" Son of Blood yelled at Martha.

"Try it," she said trying to keep her voice steady and strong. "We'll die together."

"Would you really pull the trigger? Looks too scared."

"Sacred and holding a gun. It's a good combination. You wanna risk it?" After sizing her up a moment, Brother of Blood lowered his gun. They could afford to wait a while longer and play their little game. "Doctor, get everyone out," She ordered. "There's a door at the side. It's over there. Go on!"

John only stood there, indecisive and confused.

"John, she means you," Rose told him. But still he was only frozen in shock. "Do what she said," Rose commanded the villagers, assuming an authoritive air that shocked almost everyone. "Everybody out now. Please don't argue, Mr Jackson," she said to one of the other teachers. Not far from her, Matron shook herself to her senses and helped her usher everyone out. She was telling them they were mad and encouraging them by name to leave. Rose was glad of her help. "Thank you, Matron. Now go, quickly."

"But you-"

"We'll be okay," she assured the woman before pushing her out the door. She did her best to believe what she actually said. But she was scared. Not for her, but for John, for her Doctor. She spotted Tim in the corner and reached out to him too. "Come on, move yourself! Get back to the school, Tim."

Now the hall was empty other than the Family, Martha, John and herself.

"And you, John," Martha told him. "Shift."

"What about you?"

Martha decided to take a different angle, hoping that his protective nature as still there. "Mr Smith, I think you should escort your lady to safety, don't you?"

"I hardly think she could do much with my help!" he said incredulously. Still in awe of how she had become even more confident than he had though she was and assumed authority like it suited her. He had never seen such a bold woman… other than Martha, but he was starting to suspect her of insanity.

"John, let's go," Rose said firmly. She took his hand and led him out the door.

.

Outside people were still milling around in confusion and fear. John was slowly coming out of his state of shock and, like Rose, took authority.

"Mr Hicks, go to the village. Get everyone out," he ordered to a man near by. Then he turned to Tim and reached out to the boy. "Latimer, get back to the school. Tell the Headmaster-"

"Don't touch me!" Tim shouted, jerking away from him. "You're as bad as them!" And he ran off, leaving John standing there in shock again. When he turned back to Rose, she was staring at the village hall anxiously. Martha was still in there. "Stay there, I'll get her out," he said walking forward. But Rose grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

"No, John," her voice was still commanding, but he could hear the fear and desperation in her tone. "They want you. Martha will be okay… We've been in worse situations."

"We can't leave her!" he said.

"Then we won't… But she _will_ come out," she sounded confident enough for him to believe her, but really she was trying to convince herself. The family still had at least one working gun. And the one she'd shorted out would start working again soon.

They waited long agonising minutes, until finally Martha ran from the building. She was looking back in fear, the gun gone. When she saw them she managed to sigh in annoyance.

"Don't just stand there! Move!" she shouted at them. Rose grabbed his hand and they ran towards the school. "God, you're rubbish as a human! Come on!" Martha shouted at him.

"Give him a break," Rose defended him as they ran. "It's very disorientating having your mind changed like that. It's bad enough for me when I go Bad Wolf, and that's my mind getting _bigger_!" Her eyes widened as immediately, she realised her mistake. She hoped like anything that the Doctor wouldn't remember her saying that. Sighing, she held his hand tighter and put on a burst of speed. They had to stop this.

**?...DW…?**

The second they reached the school, John grabbed the class bell and rang it loudly in warning.

"What are you doing?" Martha yelled at him.

"Maybe one man can't fight them, but this school teaches up to stand together!" he told her.

"Quite right," Mr Jackson said coming towards them. "Take arms! Take arms!" he called to the waking students. John frowned grimly with distaste, but didn't stop the other teacher.

"You can't do that!" Rose cried at him.

"You saw those things, Miss Tyler," Mr Jackson said in a raised voice. "They held you hostage. They are dangerous and we must stop them. Now I would ask that you be quiet and stand aside as you should!"

Both she and Johns face's flashed in ager at that. Rose didn't like being spoken to like that and John did not like the way Jackson was treating her. And Rose, being Rose was about to say something back to him when a student she didn't really like all that much charged down the stairs and broke off from the other boys.

"I say Sir, what's the matter?" he asked.

"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson," Jackson told him. "Enemy at the door. Take arms! Mr Smith, assist me if you will, please."

John nodded grimly and followed the other teacher down to the armoury. The two girls running along behind. He didn't like what was happening, but if he wanted to keep Rose and Martha and the students' safe, there was no other choice.

.

"You can't do this, Doctor," Martha cried after him as he went around the armoury giving orders. "Mr Smith!" he still didn't even look at her, he was feeling guilty enough without her adding to that. "They're just boys! You can't ask them to fight! They don't stand a chance!"

"They are cadets, Miss Jones," Mr Jackson interrupted her. "They are trained to defend the King and all his properties."

"What in thunder's name is this?" the Headmaster bellowed, sweeping into the room. Everyone paused. "Before I devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and everyone of you, could someone please explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?"

"H-Headmaster, I have to report the school in under attack," John said finally speaking up.

"Really? Is that so? Perhaps you and I should have a word in private."

"I promise you, Sir," he said. "I was in the village with Rose - er, Miss Tyler. Miss Jones, Matron and Mr Jackson were also there. It's Baines, Sir. Jeremy Baines and Mr Clark from Oakham Farm. They've gone mad, Sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I saw it happen."

"Mr Jackson, is that so?"

"I'm afraid it's true, Sir."

"Murder on our own soil?"

"I saw it, yes," Mr Jackson confirmed.

"Perhaps you did well then," the Headmaster's tone quietened. "What makes you think the danger's coning here?"

"Well, Sir, they said… um…" John stuttered.

"Baines threatened Mr Smith, Sir," Mr Jackson filled in. "They held Miss Tyler and Miss Jones hostage and threatened to kill them. They said they'd follow him. We don't know why."

"Very well," the Headmaster said. "You boys remain on guard. Mr Jackson, carry on. Mr Snell, telephone the police. Mr Philips, with me. We shall investigate."

"No, it's not safe out there!" Rose told him as he turned to leave. He turned back and looked at her sharply.

"I will ask that you hold your tongue, Miss Tyler. Mr Smith, control your woman." And with that he left. Rose stood behind him fuming. John had to hold her hand to keep her from running at him.

"It's not worth it," he murmured to her. He didn't want to see the Headmaster beat her.

"Come on, Rose," Martha said to her. "We've still got to find that watch."

**?...DW…?**

John peered out the curtain into the dark. In the gloom he could see the Headmaster and Mr Philips walking towards the crazed people who had tried to kill him and his friends' only minutes earlier.

Baines and Jenny were the only two there, but they had an entourage of their creepy scarecrows. He had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach the second the Headmaster stepped up to confront them.

"So," the head master said to them. "Baines and one of the cleaning staff. There's always a woman involved. Am I to gather that some practical joke has got out of hand?"

"Headmaster, Sir. Good evening, Sir. Come to give me a caning, Sir? Would you like that, Sir?" Brother of Blood said sharp and quick.

"Keep a civil tongue, boy," the Headmaster scolded.

"Now… Come now, everyone. I suspect alcohol has played its part in this," Mr Philips said. "Lets all just calm down. And who are these friends of yours, Baines? In fancy dress."

"Do you like them, Mr Philips?" Brother of Blood asked, walking over to one of them. "I made them myself. I'm ever so good at science, Sir. Look-" He pulled the arm off one of the scarecrows, revealing no limbs, nothing other than straw… and yet that arm had been moving only a moment before. "-Molecular fringe animation fashioned in the shape of straw men. My own private army, Sir. Ever so good, Sir."

Strangely John found that he could almost understand the string of long non-existing words that had spilled from Brother of Blood's lips. He didn't understand a word, yet he knew he had been saying that he'd used some sort of science to bring them to life. But that was impossible.

Then again, so was everything else that had happened today… Well, maybe apart from Rose, he liked that part.

"Banes, step apart from this company and come inside with me," the Headmaster ordered.

"No, Sir," Brother of Blood snapped. "You, Sir - _you_ - will send us Mr John Smith. That's all we want, Sir. Mr John Smith and whatever he's done with his Time Lord consciousness. Then we'd be very happy to leave you alone."

"You speak with someone else's voice, Baines. Who might that be?"

"We are the Family of Blood," Brother of Blood informed them.

"Mr Smith said there had been deaths."

"Yes, Sir! And they were good, Sir!"

"Well, I warn you, the school is armed," he told them.

"All your little tin soldiers," Brother of Blood taunted. "But tell me Sir, will they thank you?"

"I don't understand…"

"What do you know of your history, Sir? What do you know of next year?"

"You're not making sense, Baines."

"1914, Sir," Brother of Blood told him. "Because the Family has travelled far and wide looking for Mr Smith and _oh_ the things we have seen. War is coming. In foreign lands, war of the whole wide world, with all your boys falling down in the mud. Do you think they will thank the man who taught them it was glorious?"

"Don't you forget boy, I've been a soldier. I was in South Africa, I used my dead mates as sandbags, I fought with the butt of my rifle when the bullets ran out. And I would go back there tomorrow for King and Country!" The boy had started to turn and walk back as he was talking and the Headmaster's voice grew louder.

"Etcetera, etcetera," Brother of Blood taunted. Suddenly he spun and fired on Mr Philips, disintegrating the poor man on the spot. John recoiled back from the window and gulped heavily. These people were maniacs and they weren't going to stop until they had him!

"Run along, Headmaster. Run back to school… And send us Mr Smith!"

The Headmaster stood there in horror a second before he turned and ran back inside. The sound of the Mother of Blood's laughter following him.

Sickened, John turned from the window and sat down heavily on the table, wiping a hand over his face.

.

Only a few seconds later the Headmaster stepped into the room. He stood up immediately.

"Mr Philips has been murdered, Mr Smith. Can you tell me why?" he asked. The boys around the room muttered slightly.

"Honestly, Sir, I have no idea. And the telephone line has been disconnected. We're on our own."

"If we have to make a fight of it, then make a fight we shall," he said darkly. Then he turned to the students to give orders. "Hutchinson, we'll build a barricade within the courtyards, fortify the entrances, build our defences. Gentlemen, in the name of the King, we shall stand against them!"

"Yes, Sir!" the boys chorused. The headmaster left. And the boys followed out after him, encouraging each other as they headed out into battle.

John felt wretchedly resigned. For some reason he felt that he had been in war before. He had no memory of it, but he had the feeling. He knew he hadn't like it then either. With a heavy heart, he left the room, following the boys to aid them in their coming fight.


	44. The Family of Blood, Not Enough?

_**Sorry! I'm so sorry it's been so long. God, I hate holidays… How many people do you hear say that?**_

_**Working quite a bit, and when I'm not friends and family are nagging at me to get of the computer. Not to mention I have six different stories running - and that's just Doctor Who stuff!**_

_**I promise I will try and get it out faster. Anyway, enjoy this very emotional chapter!**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

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**Not Enough?**

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.

After an hour of hunting Rose and Martha still hadn't turned up the watch. They had combed every part of his room and study and classroom. They had even scoured through the corridors.

They noted, with dismay, that the teachers were ordering the students as they got the school ready for battle. They could see John joining in, if not reluctantly.

Now Rose was searching down in the lower areas. They were growing desperate and were looking in places that John probably only breezed past. But the watch was nowhere in sight. And they had to get the Doctor back now. She was still looking when John paced through, giving orders to the boys in a tired, resigned voice. Then he noticed her and walked over.

"Rose, it's not safe," he told her.

"I _have_ to find that watch. It's the only thing that can help us," she told him. "You promised that you would stop sending me away when things get dangerous. You know I can help." Then she looked up into his sad, concerned eyes. So human, so innocent… She remembered that this man was not the Doctor… or at least was lacking in the memories. He was still just as worried about her. It occurred to her how lost and confused he was feeling. These things were looking for _him_, everyone who cared for him - and those who didn't - were telling him he was someone he wasn't. She gave him a weak smile. "Fine evening we've had together…" Ironically, for her this was almost normal.

"Not quite as planned," he told her quietly. He gazed back into her eyes and she could see the depth in them, the love he held for her. She closed her eyes and forced herself to turn her head away. This was why she had tried not to get attached. Because as soon as they found the watch, he had to change back, and John Smith would be gone. "Rose…" he said catching her chin and turning her head back to him. His voice shook slightly and his hand was gentle on her cheek.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I can't - I shouldn't have - I've got to find the watch. W-we need to ch-"

"How can you think that I'm not real?" he demanded, tears in his voice. "When I kissed you, was that a lie?"

"No," she said quietly. She shook her head, fearing he hadn't heard her barely existent reply. She could hardly trust her voice.

"But this Doctor sounds like some… some romantic lost prince! Would you rather that?" She couldn't reply to that. "Am I not enough?"

"That's not true," she said automatically.

"Then why do you need to get the watch back so desperately? To stop them? He's the one they want. The one _you_ want. I'm just a copy, a - a stranger in his place? Someone for you to babysit? Why would you want me when you could have the brilliant Doctor?-"

"Because I love you!" she cried at him, a little louder than she had intended. They both paused as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I really do… But, we need him back. He's the only one who can save us."

"I have to go," he said quietly as a boy ran past him.

"John, Martha was right, though. Those boys, they're just children. Never mind the Doctor, my John Smith wouldn't want them to fight. You know it's wrong, I can see it in your eyes." She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek, beseeching with her eyes to make him stop.

"Mr Smith, if you please!" the Headmaster's demanding voice called to him.

"Please, don't fight," she whispered. Her hand slipped from his face.

John's eyes filled with guilt. "What choice do I have?" Then he was pressing his lips to hers in a desperate bruising kiss. Just as quickly as it had happened, it was over and John was gone. Leaving Rose standing alone in the cold corridor.

.

It was only moments later that Rose and Martha and the Matron stood at the window as the reinforced doors broke in. They watched as the boys and the teachers gunned down every scarecrow that entered the gate. Rose watched John intently… and felt almost proud that he lowered his gun when he hadn't even fired once. She knew it wasn't cowardice. It was his natural instinct of never hurting anyone unnecessarily. His distain of war.

"Cease fire!" the Headmaster called. He walked out and surveyed the damage. They couldn't hear his muttering, but they could see the disbelief on his face. "Straw!" he called louder. It was scary, seeing the relief on the boys faces when they realised they hadn't actually taken anyone's life. Even if those 'people' had been intent on taking theirs.

Then Rose saw something that made her heart skip a beat. It was the small girl with the red balloon who had been at the dance. She rushed from the window and out onto the battlefield. Not even sparing a glance for John's fearful, horrified look. Nor did she notice the sounds of Martha and the Matron behind her.

"Mr Rocastle, please, don't go near her," she called to the Headmaster.

"You were told to be quiet," he snapped at her.

"Listen to me, god damn it! She's one of them, she's part of it! Martha, Matron, tell him!"

"I - I don't know. I think you should stay back, Headmaster," Matron stuttered. She had no idea what was going on and was handling it quite well considering. The Headmaster still looked doubtful.

"John," Rose cried, she needed this man to believe her.

"She was there with - with Baines in the village," John backed her up, if not hesitantly.

"Mr Smith," the Headmaster said, trying to keep his anger in. "I have seen many strange things this night, but there is no cause on God's earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, Sir." He turned to face the 'little girl'. "Come with me."

"You're funny," she told him.

"That's right. Now, take my hand," he enticed.

"So funny," the girl said flatly. She reached into her coat and withdrew one of those alien guns. And without any hesitation, shot him. Everyone stared on in shock. "Now, who's going to shoot me? Any of you, _really_?" the little girl cried at them venomously. Rose thought that she had never seen anything so alien as the form of a child speaking like that.

.

"Put down your guns," John commanded the boys.

"But, Sir," Hutchinson said weakly. "The Headmaster."

"I'll not see this happen," he said strongly. "Not anymore. You will retreat in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way."

"But, Sir-"

"I said lead the way," he said more forcefully. He couldn't handle much more of this. These people were looking for him. They wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. They had killed because of him…Three people were dead… because of him.

Unnoticed to them, Baines had slipped inside the gates and his voice startled them. "Go on, then," he cried delightedly. "RUN!" he raised his gun and shot into the air, causing the boys to scatter and run back to the school.

.

Soon after John, Rose, Martha and the Matron were helping the boys escape through the stables. They knew that inside, the Family seemed to be herding boys of their own. They had to get them away from the mad possessed people.

They thought they had everyone when Hutchinson and a few others ran out. John ran back to see if he could find any others, but hastily retreated when his path was blocked by the scarecrows.

Soon all of them were running out into the woods that lay beside the school. From here, they could see the front of the school. Rose groaned when she saw what was there.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Father of Blood called out tauntingly. The others joined her, peering through the leaves to see the former Mr Clark and some scarecrows standing in front of the TARDIS. "Come back, Doctor. Come home. Come and claim your prize."

"Out you come, Doctor! There's a good boy," Brother of Blood added, joining his father. "Come to the Family."

"Time to end it now!" Mother of Blood cackled.

Looking at John, Rose saw how pale he was, the look of shock on his face.

"You recognise it, don't you?" she said softly. She wasn't going to push him. She couldn't bring herself to do that. She was only stating a fact.

"Come out, Doctor! Come to us!" Mother of Blood went on.

"I've never seen it in my life," he insisted fearfully, the lie evident in his voice. He wanted to believe those words, because the alternative was impossible and terrifying.

"Do you remember its name?" Martha persisted, holding no such reservations as Rose did.

"John, you - you wrote about it," she said gently. She took the book from her dress pocket where she always kept it (yes, even in her beautiful formal dress) and showed it to him. "You dreamt of it, the blue box. Remember, you told me…" She just didn't want to continue. She could see the pain on his face and the tears in his eyes. She knew that he had finally realised that this was not a dream, this was happening and that he want not who he thought he was.

"I'm not…" he started to say, but stopped there. "I'm John Smith!" he said desperately, his voice cracking as he turned to face Rose. "That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life… and his job… and his _love_." Tears starting to run down her cheeks, Rose raised a hand and held his face with it, gently caressing away the tears she found there. "Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"

"Yes," Rose told him. "Yes, he is. The best."

"Why can't I stay?"

"But we need the Doctor," Martha said from beside them. That brought the moment to a halt as John turned to her. Martha refused to look at him as he stared at her in shock.

"What am I then? Nothing? I'm just a story!" he said the last part venomously, but it didn't come out right when he chocked on a sob. Without a glance at anyone else, he stood swiftly and ran off.

Rose gave Martha a chilling look before running after him. Leaving behind a frustrated Martha and a very bewildered and confused Matron.

.

John still walked ahead of them, ignoring Rose's attempts to talk to him and trying as hard as he could to ignore Martha trying to explain the situation to Nurse Redfern. Of course the human woman was absolutely baffled by this, but after what she'd seen that night, she was willing to have a little faith.

But he - he didn't want to hear that he wasn't John Smith. He didn't want to hear it anymore. Everyone kept calling him 'Doctor'! _Everyone_… Everyone but Rose. She was the only person who hadn't called him 'the Doctor' once. There had only been that moment when she had first tried to tell him. But to her, he was John. He was extremely thankful for that.

Feeling a small, soft hand reach for his, he twined his fingers with hers and looked into Rose's sad hazel eyes. He wished he could take that pain away.

They stopped a moment, unsure of where to go. They needed somewhere that they wouldn't be found…

"This way," Matron, or Joan as she preferred, said to them. "I think I know somewhere we can hide." Martha nodded and followed her. John was too numb to do anything much. He just let Rose's warmth guild him. That was all he really cared about at the moment. The one true thing he knew in this life. His Rose.

**?...DW…?**

After a few minutes of running, Joan stopped before a small dark house. None of the lights were on and it had an eerie, empty feeling… despite the fact it looked so well kept that it could only have been occupied this morning.

"Here we are," Joan said. It was obvious she was shell shocked, but she was somehow miraculously coping. "It should be empty," she told them, panting heavily. "Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far."

"My life for over two and a half years," Rose murmured, looking at the house that gave her shivers.

"But who lives here?" Martha asked, obviously oblivious to the empty feeling it was giving Rose.

"If I'm right, no one." Joan led them in through the front door into a simple cottage kitchen. It looked as if it had been abandoned in the middle of afternoon tea. There was even a pot of tea still on the table. "Hello?" she called and waited a moment fro reply. She never got one. "No one home. We should be safe here."

"Whose house is it, though?" Rose asked.

"Um," Joan stammered. "The Cartwright's. That little girl at the school, she's Lucy Cartwright… or at least she's taken Luck Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then… they were vanished." Hesitantly she walked over to the pot and placed her hand around it. "Stone cold… How easily I accept these ideas…"

She sat on one of the table chairs. Rose led John over to a chair by the wall and sat him down. He looked like he bared the weight of the world, he looked broken and the tears were close to the surface.

"I must go to them before anyone else dies," he said weakly.

"No!" Rose cried, kneeling before him and holding onto him tightly. "I won't let you! The deaths are _not__your__fault_!"

"Martha, isn't there something we can do?" Joan asked. Although she didn't know the man as well as these two women, she hated seeing him like this. She wanted to help.

"Not without the watch," Martha shook her head.

"You're this Doctor's companion! Cant you help?" John said angrily. He held on to Rose's hand tightly, and despite the fact he knew she was in the same boat as Martha, not one word was directed at her. "What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?"

Martha had no reply for this. She never really knew the true extent of why he travelled with others. So it was Rose that replied instead.

"Because he's lonely," she whispered.

"And that's what you want me to become?" he asked Martha, still not looking at Rose. Because Rose hadn't once _directly_told him to change.

"He hasn't been lonely in a long time… not since I've known him," Martha told him, nodding down at Rose who was too busy looking intently - even devotedly - at him to notice.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Everyone tensed.

"What if it's them?" Joan squealed, frightened.

"I'm not an expert, but I don't think scarecrows knock," Martha said in a hushed tone. Slowly she walked over to the door and opened it a crack to reveal Timmy Latimer.

"I brought you this," he told her softly. In his hand he held out the stolen fob watch.

Martha looked up at him in shock. Now they had a little bit of hope.


	45. The Family of Blood, Could be

**Could be**

.

.

"Hold it," Martha told John, who had jumped up in shock at the sight of the watch. It was as if since realising who he really was, all his dreams were much more vivid. He knew the truth.

"I won't," he replied, his voice low. He shook his head, his eyes not moving from the watch.

"_Please,_just hold it," she begged. She shot a look at Rose; she knew that he would do almost anything Rose told him to… But Rose was refusing. She remembered her words from earlier that day.

'_I __am __not __using __him __like __that! __I __would __never __use __his__… __fondness __of __me __to __manipulate __him!_'

"It told me to find you," Tim told him. "It wants to be held."

"You've had the watch this whole time?" Rose asked, her voice wobbling slightly. "Why didn't you give it back?"

"Because it was waiting," he said matter of factly… then he hesitated a moment. "Then because I was scared if the Doctor."

"Why?" Joan blinked.

"Because… I've seen him. He's… like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun.-"

"Stop it!" John hissed.

"He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.-"

"Stop! I said stop it!"

"And he's wonderful!" Tim finally finished. While he had been talking, Joan had taken the Journal from off the table and began reading.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and the ground shook as something exploded in the distance. Everyone gasped and held on to something for support.

"What the hell?" Martha cried.

And they all bolted to the window to see. They watched, horrified, as flaming bombs fell down and hit the village.

"They're destroying the village!" Joan cried.

John felt anger boiling up inside him. This was all because of _him_! "The watch," he growled going over and picking it up.

"John…" Rose said.

'_Closer__…'_ the whisper filled the room. Only three of the five occupants herd it though. John stiffened at the sound.

"Can you hear it?" Tim asked him.

'_Closer__… __Closer__…'_

"I think he's asleep. Waiting to awaken," John said, holding the watch up to himself, staring at it closely, almost as if in a trance.

"Why did he speak to me?" Tim asked.

"Oh," John said in the Doctor's chipper 'babble' voice. "Low level telepathic field. You were born with it. Just and extra synaptic engram causing-" suddenly he broke off and inhaled sharply. He looked back down at the watch in shock, then back up at them. "Is that how he talks?" he asked fearfully.

"That's him!" Rose said, she cringed when she heard the hope in her voice.

"All you have to do is open the watch and he's back," Martha told him.

"You knew this all along," he accused, "and yet you watched while I fell in love with Rose!" Yet again, he knew that the same went for Rose, but he just couldn't bring himself to blame her.

"I didn't know how to stop you!" Martha said coming forward. "You're so similar that Rose was struggling enough to keep a distance from you, but she couldn't anymore when you started returning how she feels. I didn't have the heart to ruin the one shot she's had… even if it was for a little bit. And he gave me a list of things to watch out for, but that wasn't included.

"Falling in love?" he said incredulously. "That didn't even occur to him?"

"You _know_ why," Martha said to him firmly. And he did. Because the Doctor was in love with Rose, and it was incomprehensible to him that - even as somebody else - he could ever fall for anyone else.

"What? So that's it now? 'Here's this glorious happy life, now open the watch and go away'. You expect me to die?" He ignored the sob that escaped Rose's lips.

Another explosion rocked the house.

"It was always going to end, though!" Martha cried, they didn't have time for this. And if Rose wouldn't help bring him back, then she would do all she could. "The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months and they die… Like mayflies, he said."

"So your job was to execute me!" He still wouldn't look at Rose while saying these hurtful words.

"People are dying out there!" Martha snapped. "They need him and _we_ need him." She gestured to herself and Rose. "'Cause you've got no idea what he's like. I've only just met him. It wasn't even that long ago, but he already means so much to me. He's my best friend. And Rose has been with him for years. And she loves him more than her own life. She's willingly given up her life to save his more than once. She loves him. You got that? She _loves__him_too!"

"Martha!" Rose cried, trying to stop her friend. There as another loud clash and she was almost thrown to her already unstable feet by another explosion.

"It's getting closer," Tim noted.

John just stared at the watch, and then his eyes lit up a little more. "I should have thought of it before! I can give them this. Just the watch. Then they can leave and I can stay as I am!"

"You can't!" Rose cried in horror. Doing that would kill the Doctor, and she could do that no more than she could kill John. The human she loved… or the Time Lord she loved… Who were both the same man, just different species and memories… Oh, this was so confusing!

"If they want the Doctor, they can have him."

"He'll never let you do it," Martha warned.

"If they get what they want, then… then-"

"Then it all ends in destruction," Joan said quietly from the window. She had been reading the Journal, trying to stay out of the horribly personal scene in front of her. but she didn't not like the end. "I just read to the end of this… Those creatures would live forever, to breed and conquer. War across the stars… for every child."

John only stared at her, on the verge of tears. Rose had never seen her Doctor like this before, and she was glad she hadn't… Because this was breaking her heart.

"Martha, Joan, Tim, could you…?" Martha nodded understandingly and herded the other two out the door as John let a sob escape.

In a heartbeat, Rose was holding him in a tight embrace as he broke down, crying on her shoulder. She just held him, tears of her own starting to fall. She tried not to let him see those tears as she held him back and wiped his from his face. She gave him a small sad smile and sat him down.

Together they waited, letting their breathing return to normal. Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath before starting what she knew had to be done.

"If I could do this instead of you, I would," she told him. "I would have gone through the whole bloody change and everything so you didn't have to." She shuddered at the memory of the Doctor screaming in agony. Yes, she would willingly have gone through that for him.

John looked up at her sharply and said something she was not expecting. "What if he doesn't love you?"

This took her off her guard and it took a second for her to reply. "Then I'll love him all the same," she told him. Her voice was quiet, but it was impossible to miss the certainty in it. "I always have, nothing's going to change that. I gave up everything to be with him and no matter how much it hurt, it was worth it."

It was John's turn to take a deep rattling breath. "It was real. I wasn't… I really thought…"

"I know," she whispered, fondly caressing his cheek. Her eyes flicked down to the watch. "Let me see?" Hesitantly, John placed the watch in her hand. She began rubbing circles on its surface, dreaming that the Doctor could feel it.

'_Look__ out__ my__ Rose__…_' she heard a voice from the watch. _His_ voice. 'B_e__ careful.__ They__ come._'

"I - I can hear it," she admitted. "I'm pretty sure - I _know_ I shouldn't be able to hear it. He'd be really worried hearing that. He'd be panicking and he'd be scared for me… Heck, _I__'__m_scared for me! That's why I never told him that I've been Bad Wolf again…"

.

John squeezed her hand and gently grabbed the back of her head, pressing his forehead against Rose's. It was a strange action to him, but it seemed so natural. And then the images hit.

He could faintly see, through the images in his mind, Rose's eyes glowing faintly gold. In his mind he saw flashes of his life, surrounded by a dream like golden haze. Part of his mind - the part that was the Doctor, flowing from the watch and into him - told him that Rose shouldn't be able to change like that, let alone establish a psychic connection with _anyone_. But he ignored this as the images became more vivid.

*He saw him and Rose, being taken as man and wife. They walked past all their friends, holding hands and laughing happily. Sharing their first kiss as man and wife.

*He and Rose sat side by side on a bed as he took their new born daughter in his arms. They looked lovingly down at her as she cooed softly.

*Two older children ran ahead, giggling and playing as they ran through the woods. A slightly older he and Rose swung their youngest child between them. They were all so happy.

* Finally, he lay in bed, an old man. Rose sat beside him, just as old, holding his hand.

"They're all safe, aren't they?" he asked. "The children… the grandchildren… everyone's safe?"

"Everyone's safe," she confirmed softly. "They all send their love, John."

"Well, then. It's time," he whispered, a smile gracing his lips. "Thank you… I love you, my Rose Smith."

"And I love you, my John Smith." She lent over and placed a gentle kiss against his lips. He closed his eyes, a smile on his face… and let out his last breath.

.

"Did you see?" he asked shakily, the second the images stopped. He still had a small smile on his lips from the happy images.

Rose however - the gold gone from her eyes - was crying earnestly, covering her mouth with her hand. She was visibly shaking. "Don't!" she gasped. "Oh god, please don't!"

"Don't you want that?" he asked her. "Don't you want everything you have seen? He doesn't age or die… If I'm him, then I don't have to go. I could stay with you - live _that_ life.-"

"_DON__'__T_," She cried desperately, a sob escaping her. "Please don't make me do this. We need him, but - but I can't…"

"Rose, we could-"

Suddenly he was cut off as the window smashed open, showering shards over top of Rose. Creepy hands reached in and unlatched the window, grabbing hold of Rose before she could even move. She screamed as they dragged her out the window. He saw the panic and anger and a fierce determination in her eyes as she fought against them. He tried to grab her, but there were too many of them.

"Rose!" he cried out as she slipped from his grasp.

Rose screamed again as they dragged her away. Then he heard the one word that pierced his heart. "_Doctor!_"

The door behind him burst open as the others ran in at the sound of the commotion. He ignored Martha as she asked what had happened. He stared down determinedly at the watch in his hand. That wretched watch. But he would do anything to save Rose.

He knew what he had to do.

**?...DW…?**

"We'll blast them into dust, fuse the dust into glass, then shatter them all over again!" Brother of Blood said viscously. It was hard to miss the hint of delight in his voice at the prospect of doing so. It was clear he was still trying to flush the Doctor out. But what good would that do when he already had Rose tied up on the ship?

"What the hell do you want with me?" Rose asked fiercely, trying to get as much as she could out of him.

"To consume your essence," Sister of Blood said sweetly. "As we should have, the Time Lord's."

"But we grow impatient waiting for him, so we have settled for you," Mother of Blood told her.

"But I'm just a normal human!"

"No!" Brother of Blood shouted. "You are _not_ just a human. And most certainly not a normal one. But still, we must wait," he said. "She's not quite ready yet."

"If we simply keep her, it will stop," Father of Blood said. "We must feed it, so it can grow." The four of them breathed in deeply, smelling her.

"Ah, of course," Brother of Blood sighed happily. "A couple of weeks travel with the Vortex Manipulator should do the trick. We'll be cutting it short, but it will be worth it. And I shall so enjoy seeing her _scream__in__agony_." As he was saying these last words he stepped so close to her that they were only inches apart. She couldn't escape his hot breath on her face, and she shivered in horror. She wanted so badly to lash out him, but her wrists and ankles were tied.

His words made her remember what the Face of Boe had said. '_I __am__ sorry __for __the __pain __you __must __suffer__…_' Could he have meant this? Had he been telling her that her essence was going to be consumed by the Family?

No, surely he would have warned her if she were going to die.

.

Just then there were noises from the entrance, and the Doctor stumbled in. Well… judging from how clumsy he was being, he was probably still John.

"Stop the attack!" he said throwing his arms out and looked around guilty when he accidentally hit some buttons. "Please," he begged. "Just – just give me Rose, call off the attack. Just stop. And I'll give you this!" he held out the watch.

"Say please," Brother of Blood taunted.

"Please."

Grinning, Brother of Blood shifted a panel in front of him and the noises stopped.

"Wait," Mother of Blood said, then sniffed deeply. "Still human," she smiled.

"Now, I can't - I can't pretend to understand, not for a second. But I want you know that I'm innocent in all this and so is she. He made me John Smith. I had no control over it. And she's not the one you want." His hand flew out towards her and he hit another button. He ended up hitting more when he put the other out to stop himself.

"He didn't just make himself human, he made himself an idiot," Mother of Blood muttered.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Brother of Blood sneered.

"Please, just give me her back," John said to them. "Take him, I don't want him!"

"No! John, don't!" Rose cried in panic.

"I can't lose you Rose Tyler!" he said turning to face her for the first time. She saw something different in his eyes, bit couldn't quite tell what. "And if I'm anything like him then I can tell you now, he would rather give up his blue box and whatever is in that watch than lose you!" He turned back to the family. "Now, give her to me and take it!"

"At last," Brother of Blood smiled. He reached out and took the watch from John. Then he grabbed him by the lapels and roughly pushed him back by Rose, hitting more buttons on his way down. Rose hit more as he fell into her. "Don't think that saved your life." He gazed longingly at the watch. "Family of Mine, now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord."

With that he opened the watch and they all breathed in deeply… then stopped in shock.

"It's empty!" he cried, rounding on John.

"Well, where's it gone?" he asked.

"You tell me?" He tossed the watch at him.

John caught it in one hand, his clumsy façade slipping away. He stood with a grin… the Doctor was back.

"Oh, I think the explanation might be: you've been fooled by a simple olfactory misdirection. Little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy," he told them in his normal chipper voice. Then he took out his brainy specs and put them on. And bent down and picked the tied up Rose, bride style, hooking her arms around his neck. Then he looked back at the monitors. "But it has got to be said, I don't like the looks of that hydrokinometre. It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabilisers, feeding back into the primary heat converter. Because if there's two thing's you shouldn't have done: you shouldn't have threatened Rose. And you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons. But, in fairness, I will give you one word of advice. Run!" he cried manically.

And with that, he held Rose tighter and fled from the ship, just as the alarms started to go off. The Family close behind him.

.

He managed to get just far away enough, before diving to the ground and coving Rose with his body. There was an almighty explosion behind them. After the flame and debris cleared, he looked up to see four figures sprawled, unmoving, in the grass. He knew they were only unconscious.

Smiling, he clambered off Rose and unhooked her tied arms from around his neck. And then tucked the glasses back into his annoyingly small pocket.

"So, did I sound like him?" the Doctor asked as he cut the rope from her ankles and wrists with the sonic.

"You did brilliantly," she told him.

"Oh, good. For a moment I thought I was over doing it. Martha told me that John was very protective of you, that he really, really cared for you. I guess some things don't change all that much," he grinned, winking at her.

"Wait…" Rose's face fell. "You don't - you don't remember anything?"

"Nope, three months - gone," he said rather brightly. "Last thing I remember is you singing. You have lovely voice by the way."

"Oh my god, you can remember that?" she gasped in horror. She had hoped for a second that if he'd forgotten everything, he at least wouldn't be able to remember the pain he went though.

"Yip, nothing to worry about. It was quite sweet," he said mistaking what she meant. "Though… I do wonder - How do you know that song?"

"I don't know," she replied. "It just sort of… came to me. I don't even know what it said."

"No. No, the TARDIS doesn't translate Gallifreyan. Wow, I haven't heard that song since I was a Time Tot!" Seeing a movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see one of the Family stirring. "Oh, they're coming to," he said, then he left the stunned Rose, and walked over to stand above them. The look of the Oncoming Storm creeping back onto his features.

"You want forever?" he hissed. "Alright then, let's see what I can do."

He would show no mercy for what they had done to his Rose.

.

.

.

* * *

><p><em><strong>What? No memory! Why? - Yip, I can hear the cries from here! Don't worry, it will ALL make sense… well, no it won't. But for argument's sake we will say it does.<strong>_

_**Next chapter will only be small. But it'll be good. Personally, this is my favourite chapter in the two part series. **_

_**Sorry if I made Rose a little bit weepy, but that was a heck of a lot of emotion to process. I did try and redeem her by making her have her moments… when she wasn't being mentally tortured by thoughts of loosing the man/men/ whatever she loves.**_

_**Keep an eye out for the last chapter of 'Family of Blood'!**_


	46. The Family of Blood, Painful War

**Painful War**

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.

The rain was falling heavily by the time the Doctor arrived back to them. Rose and Martha stood outside the TARDIS, finally in their normal clothes. Rose seemed slightly more subdued than usual. Not even the tiniest smile graced her face.

She was still sad that John was gone. Even though she was happy that her Doctor was back. And she wasn't sure how to feel about that fact that he couldn't remember what had happened.

The Doctor walked up the hill to them. He had just finished imprisoning the last of the Family, the Brother of Blood, in the fields. He was frozen in time and disgusted as a scarecrow, set to protect what he had sought to destroy. Then he had gone to give Joan a quick explanation of what had happened, just so she wasn't left in the dark. She deserved that much after all she had done to help.

… He looked so tired.

"Right, then. Molto bene!" he said to them.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked, swiping her wet hair from her face.

"Time we moved on," he said, avoiding the question.

"Can you really not remember anything? Not even a little bit?" she went on.

"Nope, not a thing. Rose sings, fall unconscious - Oh, hello, I'm in cottage, dressed like a ninny and Rose has been kidnapped!" Martha blinked in surprise. "Nothing changes much, does it?"

"Mmm," Rose agreed. "When is Martha going to be kidnapped for once?"

"Hey! I got kidnapped by those Pig-slaves," Martha reminded her. But her gaze didn't move from the Doctor.

"True, true," the Doctor grinned. "Oh, and I never said. Thanks for looking after me." He wrapped each girl in a big hug.

.

"Doctor, Rose, Martha!" a voice called behind them. They turned to see Tim running up the hill towards them.

"Tim-Timothy-Tim!" the Doctor cried delightedly.

"I just wanted to say goodbye," the boy said. "And thank you." They had given him more than they would ever know. They had given him confidence. He was no longer scared of his strange gift. He had seen a vision, and now knew that he didn't have to die in battle. Not then. And it was all because of them. "Because I've seen the future," he went on, and I now know what must be done. It's coming isn't it? The biggest war ever."

"You don't have to fight," Rose told him. He was such a brave young boy. But he was still only a child.

"I think we do," Tim told her.

"But you could get hurt."

"Well, so could you, travelling around with him. But that will never stop you, will it Miss Tyler. Not even death would stop you." A shadow passed over his face and she cocked her head in question. He just shook it away.

"Tim," the Doctor said, oblivious to the look he and Rose had shared. "I would be honoured if you'd take this." He gave Tim the watch.

"I can't hear anything," he said in surprise.

"No, it's just a watch now. But keep it with you. For good luck."

"Look after yourself," Martha smiled at him, going down the few steps and gave him a hug. She was already at the door with the Doctor by the time Rose got down for her hug.

"You are amazing, Tim," she said giving him a huge hug.

"Thank you," he smiled. Then his mood seemed to change. "Rose," he whispered in her ear. "I'm so sorry for what's to come. It will hurt, but it will be worth it." Rose drew back and looked at him. He was the second person to warn her about this pain… or maybe the third… had the Family…?

"What?" she asked.

"It will be okay," he smiled at her. Then gave her a gentle push back up the hill.

The Doctor seemed oblivious to the conversation and the look on her face. He hadn't been watching them, now he was too busy looking at Tim to see the worry on her face.

"You'll like this bit," he grinned. Then they all made their way into the TARDIS and watched the look of joy and wonder on Tim's face as the TARDIS dematerialised.

And they finally left 1913.

**?...DW…?**

After some pleading from Rose, the three of them now stood watching the memorial ceremony. They saw Timothy Latimer, an old man in a wheelchair. In his hand they could see a glint of silver from the watch.

Tim lifted his head, and as if knowing they were there, turned to them. A huge smile covered his weary features. Making his eyes light up, seeing the people who had given him hope, so long ago.

.

The Doctor closed his eyes and let the Vicars words wash over him.

"…They mingle not with laughing comrades again;  
>They sit no more at family tables of home;<br>They have no lot in our labour of day-time;  
>They sleep beyond England's foam…"<p>

He wished that there had been something like this for the Time War. Something that would make sure that people would never forget the beauty of Gallifrey. But alas… all that it was would die with him. And there would be no words and no memory to live on.

"…They went with song to the battle.  
>They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.<br>They were staunch to the end, against odds uncounted.  
>They fell with their faces to the foe.<p>

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;  
>Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.<br>At the going down of the sun and in the morning…  
>We will remember them."<p>

.

'_They __shall __not __grow__ old, __as __we__ that __are __left __grow __old; __Age __shall __not __weary __them, __nor __the __years __condemn._'

As beautiful a words they were, he couldn't help but hate them. They spoke of the dead. They spoke words of comfort to those who had been left behind. But those words meant nothing to him.

He had been a soldier. But he hadn't died. And yet those two lines could still apply to him. He would not grow old, yet he would leave his companions behind to wither and die… because he couldn't stand to see it happen before him. Age would not weary him. No matter how old he got, he would not show it. Oh, his mind may grow tired, but he would never show that to anyone. And at the moment it was held off. He would always be happy and more alive when Rose was around.

He almost feared that her loss would cause insanity. His mind wouldn't cope losing her.

.

He smiled softly as he felt Rose pin a poppy onto his jacket. She smiled back up at him. He could see it in her eyes. Her heart was breaking and she was afraid. But you wouldn't be able to tell if you hadn't been looking. She was doing so well to cover it up, to hide it away. He was afraid that perhaps she had learnt too much from him.

But he couldn't afford to acknowledge that hurt. Because it would only hurt her more. Because if she knew, he would have to tell her. And if he told her, then they would end up getting into the very lengthy discussion the two of them had been avoiding for a few years now. And then he would have to break her heart.

Her one single heart. Stupid single heart! Stupid double hearts! Screw it, how about stupid species differences!

Rassilon, it wasn't fair! How could the universe be so cruel that it would take everything away from him… Then give him hope, the best thing he could have wanted and all too soon it was going to rip her away from him, making it all that much worse.

He almost wished that he hadn't changed back. Then he could have given her what she wanted. It was such a cruel twist of fate.

…Then again, if he hadn't changed back, then the Family would have killed her. He wasn't sure why they had wanted her. Perhaps they could smell the Bad Wolf… after all Rose had admitted to changing again. And she didn't want to tell him, because she didn't want to scare him. _Him!_ She cared that much about him. And everything _he_could do, would only hurt her.

Looking back on the last few years, he realized just how close they were. They were so, _so_ close… They wouldn't last much longer as just friends. But they had to, because moving forward was too painful, and loosing her completely would kill him. The only thing he could think to do was back off. Just a little. I would be hard, but he could do it. If he could distance himself just a little… then perhaps they would be okay… Everything would be okay…

.

And though he knew he shouldn't, though he knew it would hurt him, and he didn't want to… he clung desperately to the memories of John Smith. The memories that he wished were his.

.

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* * *

><p><em><strong>He does remember! *Gasp* How could he?<strong>_

_**Yip, some of you very clever people guessed it… Well, it may have been a little obvious. But don't worry, this is all part of my big evil 'Master' plan! (He he, I love making the 'Master' stick out. It's just a master plan, but it works so well =D)**_

_**Fear not, my lovely companions, I know what I am doing… Mostly.**_

_**So, up next is 'Blink'… Time to see what happened on the other side =D**_

_**Hope you enjoyed this. It was defiantly my favourite. Please review!**_


	47. Blink, Sleep and Helpful Strangers

_**Blink! No! Don't blink! Blinking is bad. Don't look away, don't turn your back, and don't blink. Because it's time to face the Weeping Angels!**_

_**Hey everyone! I'm loving all the reviews! I'm so glad you all liked the last few chapters so much. And I know I said I was going to be getting them out later than usual, but I'm on a bit of a roll. Plus some of it is pre-written.**_

_**Anyway, time to see how the Doctor and Rose are coping with the 'Distancing' strategy. I wonder how long that will last when Rose has yet another problem to add to her list.**_

_**But I wont give too much away, it's all here for you to read anyway. So enjoy!**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

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***Blink***

.

**Sleep and Helpful Strangers**

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Rose jolted awake, stifling a sob into her pillow. That was the fifth night in a row she'd had that particular nightmare. It was starting to get ridiculous. It was just a dream. Sure what she saw was horrible, but it was just her mind. And yet it was terrifying. She was almost too scared to sleep.

Taking deep breaths she tried to calm herself. The Doctor must still be distracted by what ever he had on his mind lately. He'd been so distant over the last few weeks. Usually if she had a nightmare he would know in an instant and be there to comfort her. In the five nights that she'd had this nightmare, he hadn't come.

At times she was scared he was avoiding her because of what had happened between them when he was human. But that was stupid; he couldn't remember any of it. He'd probably be a lot more awkward around her if he did. But he wasn't awkward, just distant. He'd smile at her or reach for her hand, then suddenly get distracted by another errant thought.

But sometimes it made her think of part of her dream. He had been so cold and uncaring and angry. It made her blood run cold to ever think of him like that. But she knew he cared about her too much to hurt her. And why would he avoid her? Maybe being human had messed with his brain a little. God knows how clumsy and distracted John had been.

Taking another deep breath, she pushed the horrific images from her mind. She had no idea why the affected her so. Most of them weren't even scary… well, a few of them weren't. But they weren't real, so it didn't matter.

With a sigh, she flipped off the covers and padded - barefoot in her pyjamas - to the kitchen. It took a full minute of her preparing a cup of tea to realise that she was reaching around someone. That someone was gripping the counter rather tightly and his voice was strained as he tried to get her attention.

"Huh?" she said in a daze, stepping back when she finally noticed the Doctor.

"I was asking you what you were doing up," he smiled at her weakly… almost nervously. "I was starting to think you were sleepwalking. It's four am."

"Couldn't sleep," she told him automatically as she stirred two and a half sugars into her tea. It almost brought a smile to her lips remembering the days when she would have more sugars than the Doctor. He had four these days, not two. She looked up at him just in time to see a rather uncomfortable look disappear from his face, to be replaced by a wide grin. He still hadn't moved from the counter.

"Well, nothing like a good tea to get you off," he said. He handed her the milk that he had been using himself, still refusing to move an inch from the edge of the counter.

"Thanks." She poured the milk and stirred a little more.

"Right, well, off you go," he told her. "I was thinking of taking you and Martha to join in with the Great Red Hatching Migration. I heard that one year it ended up on earth. Don't worry, it's not dangerous… just a lot of running, so you're going to need some rest."

Rose nodded tiredly and picking up her mug, dragged her feet as she left. She tried not to feel dejected that he had brushed her aside,_again_.

.

It wasn't until Rose left the room that the Doctor let out a huge sigh and finally moved away from the counter. It was ridiculous. Just bloody ridiculous. The effect she had had on him in those few seconds. Perhaps avoiding her and distancing himself from her wasn't such a good idea after all. All those smiles, the small touches… he'd become dependant on them. He was almost falling apart without them.

It was so hard for him not to reach out and brush the hair from her face… Or something much more forward, which he could not afford to act upon. He had been controlling himself so well. Sixteen days. That's how long he had managed to say away from her. Not acting coldly, just trying not to pay too much attention. Every touch was fleeting, every look was only a glace.

He had convinced himself that if he did this long enough then his craving for her would lessen over time. And her craving for him would too. But for him, it only made it worse. The last few minutes had only proved that.

She had hardly been conscious of what she was doing, her mind still half asleep as she went through the automatic actions of making a cup of tea. She didn't notice how she pressed up against him as she reached around him to grab a mug. She didn't notice the way her tantalisingly low singlet top stretched further down as she reached out her arm. Nor - thankfully - the way her bare thigh brushed the bulge growing at his crotch.

No, bad! Wong, it was very, very wrong. He wasn't allowed to feel like this. Something so simple shouldn't have made him react so violently. It was horribly out of character. He had to get her out of there as fast as he could, before it got worse.

Had he really grown that dependant on their small touches? Had those hugs and hand holds really kept the deeper urges at bay… or were they only forestalling it?

He groaned as he ran a hand through his gravity defying hair. In nine hundred years he could never have believed that one little human could be his downfall. One brilliant, beautiful human would reawaken things inside him that had been unknown to Time Lords for so, so long. Because Time Lords had felt neither true, deep love - nor lust - for such a long time. And once again, he just had to be this different one. He had to fall in love. And with someone that would disappear from his life in the blink of an eye.

Human life was so fleeting, so small. It would kill him when Rose was gone… That's why he had to do this, why he had to stay away. If he didn't, he would be lost. He tried to ignore the voice in the back of his mind telling him that he had been completely and utterly lost for a long time now.

But he had to do it for her too. She deserved that chance. The chance to live her life, to have a family. To have all the things that he couldn't give her. Even if it ripped in into a million pieces doing it.

So, no matter what he felt, he would try even harder to keep his distance.

**?...DW…?**

"Of course," Martha sighed. "The one year you decide to join in, and the Migration is attacked by a giant, semi-visible lizard!"

The taxi driver shot a strange look in the rear-view mirror before shaking his head and turning back to the road.

"First off, it's not a lizard," he told her. "It's a Derilliton - Looks like a lizard, but it's a lot smarter… and hungrier, unfortunately. Second, it's not 'semi-visible', just like all creatures from Desrill it can only be seen by _us_ in certain lights or with the right contact lenses. Thirdly, It's not the first time. They're a constant threat. That's why they have keepers for the Migration. I've already explained all this to you!"

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. I was too worried about why my friend looks like she had a hell of a night."

"I'm fine," Rose murmured tiredly from her seat the far side of the car from the Doctor. Her head was leant up against the window and her eyes were half closed.

"See," he said happily to Martha. "She's fine."

Martha ignored him and turned back to Rose. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Not a lot," she yawned. "But I'll cope."

"I don't know why I bother explaining things to you people," he joked.

"Because you like the sound of your voice," Rose mumbled.

"It's alright, Doctor," Martha laughed at his expression. "I heard. Every ten years the Red Fallons migrate to a warm, peaceful place so that their eggs can hatch. But baby Red Fallons to the Derilliton are like baby turtles to a seagull."

"Exactly. These four Red Fallons have been bumped off course. We have to rescue them from the Derilliton and get them somewhere quiet or the eggs will never hatch. I think we got about just less than half an hour till then."

"Wait!" Martha suddenly cried, making Rose jump. "What was that there?"

"Stop the cab, please!" he called. The Martha hoisted their tranquiliser tipped arrows over her shoulder and the Doctor slung his bow across his and they jumped out the door. Rose was left weapon-less, she didn't look in a state fit enough to run straight, let alone shoot an arrow straight. "Twenty five minutes, which way?"

"Right, it's defiantly this way," Martha said pointing off down the street.

"Okay," he said. The two of them started running in that direction, it took Rose a moment to realise they were moving and followed. They were stopped by a shout from behind them.

"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" a girl cried. They turned to see a blonde woman run out of a shop near by. Martha was already ahead of them and was too eager to backtrack. Rose, however, was all too keen for the continued rest.

"Hello!" the Doctor said to the stranger who somehow knew his name. "Sorry, bit of a rush. There's a sort of thing happening, fairly important we stop it," he stuttered out vaguely.

"Oh my god, it's you. It really is you," she said happily. Her face fell a little when he gave her a questioning look. "Oh, you don't remember me, do you?"

"We don't have time for this," Martha called back to them. "Migration's started!"

"Look, sorry, I've got a complex life," he told her. "Things don't always happen to me in the right order. Gets confusing, especially at weddings. I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own."

Rose _wasn__'__t_ too tired to shoot him a look for that one. She knew he had kids, so he must have had a wife at some point… But he really just made it sound like his weddings were frequent occasions for him.

"Oh my god! Of course, you're a time traveller. It hasn't happened yet! None of it, it's all still in your future!"

"What hasn't happened?" he asked curiously.

"Doctor!" Martha called out again. "Twenty minutes to Red Hatching!"

"It was me," the woman gasped. "Oh, for god's sake, it was me all along. You got it all from me!" She was holding a sort of clear-file in her hand and his eyes flicked down to it.

"Got what?"

"Okay," she said seriously, she sounded almost proud of herself. Rose thought it looked rather adorable. "Listen. One day you're going get stuck in 1969. Make sure you've got this with you. You're going to need it." She handed him the clear-file with a grin.

"Doctor!" Martha shouted impatiently.

"Yeah!" he called back to her. "Listen, listen," he said to the woman. "Got to dash, things happening… Well, four things… Well, four things and a lizard."

"Okay," she said happily, the odd sentence barely fazing her. "No worries, on you go. See you around some day."

The Doctor started to run off but stopped again. "What was your name again?"

"Sally Sparrow," she told him.

"Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow," he grinned. Their attention was grabbed by a new arrival. A man walked over to stand beside Sally, a bottle of milk in his hand and a dumbfounded expression on his face. He was looking at the Doctor like he'd just seen something he thought could never exist. The look didn't stay on his face long, because next thing he knew, Sally was grabbing his hand. He looked down in shock, and smiled.

"Goodbye, Doctor," Sally grinned. Then she led the stunned man back towards their shop.

The Doctor gave one last fond - and rather envious - look back at the couple, then ran off after Martha. Before Rose could move, Sally called back.

"Oh, and Rose," she said, popping her head out the door. "Good luck with the sleep."

"Thanks," she smiled wearily. Then with a sigh she ran after her friends, hoping that she had enough energy to get through the day.

.

Two hours later they were back in the TARDIS. Rose was just about ready to keel over. They had spent a good ten minutes chasing the Derilliton down and tranquilising it. Then another eight trying to catch the four Red Fallons and taking them back to the TARDIS. They had only just made it to a nice quiet, sunny field at in the country where the rest of the flock of big red pigmy-puff like creatures had gathered. The Keepers were glad to see that they were safe and took the Derilliton from them to release back into the wild on their home planet.

They had spent the next hour playing with the adorable little palm sized fluff balls that were the baby Red Fallons. Rose wanted so badly to keep one. But the Doctor assured her it would be nothing more than a hassle… She saw what he meant when soon a small bunch of them began to cry, a loud high pitch squeal that would send dogs wild.

So now she sat in the library, nursing a headache. Yip, because on top of her fatigue, she also had to be around a sound to rival the Doctor's stunt with the sonic last Christmas. It had taken her a while to find some painkillers. She hadn't actually used any in a very long time. The Doctor never touched them, and she had come to use them less and less. But now was an emergency.

She downed the pills with a glass of water. Then she sat back, waiting for the drugs to kick in. They never got the chance. The next thing she knew her stomach gave a violent heave and she was running full pelt to the nearest bathroom. She didn't even bother acknowledging Martha when she pushed her away from the sink in an attempt to get to the toilet faster. Then she was hurling the contents of her stomach into to the porcelain bowl. Dislodging the undigested pills from her stomach as if it were poison… She had really over done it today. No wonder she wasn't even able to hold down water.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Martha asked holding back her hair and rubbing her back. It was a little bit of a dumb question, but it had to be asked.

"I'll be oaky," she said weakly. "I probably just over did myself today. Haven't had much sleep lately."

"Why not?"

"Insomnia," she lied easily.

"Why don't you go get some sleep now?" she suggested. "I could make you some camomile tea and convince the Doctor to stay still for a few hours… Is it just me or is he more hyper than usual?"

"A little, yeah," she laughed. "But don't worry about it. I don't think I could sleep if I tried." And she couldn't. When she did sleep, the nightmares would wake her up, then she would be too scared to go back to sleep. But now it was getting to the point where she was too scared to sleep at all.

But she had to try and get some rest. If she was like this after having only seven hours of sleep in five days, she didn't want to see what she was like with even less. Martha made her that tea anyway and she settled back down on the library couch. With the mix of the tea, the softness of the couch, the warm fire, the gentle humming of the TARDIS and the sheer exhaustion, it wasn't long until she drifted off…

Only to wake up screaming.


	48. Blink, Fatal Exhaustion

_**Oh yeah, one thing I forgot. A few people asked my why I didn't change what he Doctor did to the Family. Because surely Rose wouldn't approve. And I agree. She wouldn't. So that's why the Doctor didn't let her know what he did to them.**_

_**Anyway, onto delusional Rose!**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

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**Fatal Exhaustion**

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.

Alright. That was it, she was giving up. She didn't want to sleep. No more. Sleep was bad. Sleep was horrible. She had attempted sleep for the last two weeks, but every night she had the same horrid, horrid dream. She didn't want it any more.

She had tried all she could to sleep. The other day she had snuck out to a 29th centaury pharmacy, while the Doctor was preoccupied looking at something in a shop, and bought some sleeping pills. They were very strong ones. The bottle said she would sleep a full twelve hours. It hadn't lied, she did sleep twelve hours… but it didn't stop the nightmares. In fact, it made it worse. She was trapped asleep, and when she couldn't wake up, the dream became worse and worse and worse. The pain she felt in the dream slowly starting to feel real. She could feel herself burn as she slept, trapped in her nightmare.

Sleeping pills were bad. Never again!

That had been her last resort. So now she was giving up. Even when she slept with the nightmares she got no rest. If she was going to be this sleep deprived, she may as well avoid the nightmares while she was at it.

And she was _severely_ sleep deprived. Not counting the evil twelve hour sleep she'd had that night, she had only had sixteen hours sleep in the last three weeks! She was surprised that she wasn't dropping dead from the sheer exhaustion. Every now and then if she was comfortable she would slip away… but it was never long until she woke up again.

It was strange, she was so overly tired that it was like she had too much energy. At this point she had no idea how she was managing to jump up and down like she was on a sugar high. Half the time she couldn't sit still, other's she would sit still as a statue as she zoned out. She had moments where she would talk as much as the Doctor did. She would babble on… and it was not a good thing because she had no clue what she was saying. She had lost the filter between her brain and her mouth and she was saying some of the strangest things… and something's she didn't want to say aloud. Earlier she had told the Doctor that his ass was skinny, but cute. She was too out of it to notice she'd said something she shouldn't have.

And then there were the hallucinations… well, hallucination of sorts. At times her brain would make the things she saw go funny. Because she was pretty sure the TARDIS should be casting a greenish light, not a kaleidoscope of colours. Car's shouldn't look like speed blurs and people probably shouldn't look like they were covered in a sparkly sheen. (Unless they were from Kaarion III).

Martha was becoming increasingly worried about her, and she was starting to shut her out a little bit. If she couldn't help herself with this, then Martha certainly wouldn't be able. The Doctor, however seemed completely oblivious to what was happening right in front of him.

So, earlier that day when they had gone to a market, she had stocked up on the alien equivalents of caffeine pills and energy drinks… one of the worst things she could have done. She realised too late after sculling the first can of Hyper-V. The extra energy to go with the over tired energy only made her worse and made her hands shake. And then she'd crashed soon after. She may have gotten a few hours sleep before she woke up then.

She didn't know how long she would be able to last like this. Maybe if she stayed up long enough she would eventually collapse in a sleep deep enough that she wouldn't dream at all. One could only hope.

**?...DW…?**

"At least twenty missing persons, all gone from right here," the Doctor cried excitedly as he jumped out of the TARDIS. They stood in front of a large Victorian house. It was falling apart, abandoned long ago.

"This Wester Drumlins looks creepy as hell," Martha complained.

"It's so pretty!" Rose gasped. She swayed on her feet before clutching at the stature beside her. She may mentally have enough energy to keep her running, but that didn't stop her body from wanting to fall over.

"Pretty?" Martha scoffed in confusion. She knew Rose was bordering - maybe over the edge of - delusional, but she still didn't see how she could think this dump was beautiful.

"Look at it!" she cried, stumbling into the house. "It's so old and beautiful. That's what I love about time, even though it can destroy, even though things slowly come to ruin, it can still look beautiful. Imagine what this place would have looked like when it was new. Think of its history! And you can't say it's not true, because people think that the temple of Athena is beautiful and that's millennia old!" She ran over to the wall and saw the ripped wallpaper, ivy trailing across it. "Ooh, and it's vintage!" she squealed.

The Doctor couldn't help the smile that tugged at the edge of his lips. He knew that Rose was a bit off at the moment. She had no brain-mouth filter and she came out with some of the cutest things. What ever came to her mind was out there. He was a little worried she was delirious, but he couldn't afford to get close to her. Martha would know, she would be able to help. She was a doctor after all - well, nearly.

He tried not to watch as Rose ran around in delight, talking in a dazed, innocent voice. No, look away from Rose! Focus on the mystery.

All those people, missing without a trace. There were no recognisable signs of a struggle at any point in the house. Everything was all boarded up and decaying. Almost everything was covered in ivy. He was surprised those statues weren't.

"They so fit!" Rose was saying. "It's like they're sad that the house is falling apart. Crying angels, they look so pretty!"

"You think everything looks pretty," Martha laughed when Rose used her recent favourite word for the seventh time that day.

The Doctor chanced a look at Rose. The giddy smile on her face disarmed him for a moment, then he was smiling back. But that smile faded quickly when he saw what was behind Rose. The stature of the angel that a few moments ago had been crying into its hands was now frozen reaching out towards Rose.

Something clicked in his mind. Crying angels… Weeping Angels!

"Stop!" he cried out. Both girls looked up at him in shock. "Look back at the angel," he told them. They both did as he asked, and Rose gasped.

"It's moved!" she cried.

"It's a Weeping Angel," he told them. "Right now all you need to know is that you can't let it touch you."

"But it's a statue," Martha said.

"Only when you're looking at it. It's quantum locked. The second anything living lays eyes on it, it freezes to stone. You have to keep looking at it. If you even blink it could move. We have to get back to the TARDIS, _now_."

The girls backed over to him and they slowly backed towards the door. Since two people were already staring at the angel, Martha glanced back so she could direct them where to go, and screamed. Rose spun around to see another angel just inside the doorway. The Doctor's eyes flickered back for just a second, but it was long enough for the first angel to get halfway across the room.

"Martha, keep an eye on that one. Don't blink. I'll look at this one. Rose, you'll have to lead us."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rose nod, then she grabbed their hands. He felt a shock run up his arm at the contact and he tried not to flinch. It wasn't unpleasant - it was the opposite of unpleasant. It had been two weeks since the incident in the kitchen and he hadn't touched her once since then. The sudden contact felt so good, it…

Not the time! Rassilon, see, this was why it was bad thinking about Rose. He couldn't think like that when he was trying to have a staring contest with a statue. He actually quite liked staring contests. He remembered once he had Rose were being childish and had one. He had won easily. Rose had- No, stop! No Rose thoughts! Weeping Angels! Right, yes… focus…

.

Rose led them towards the TARDIS, Martha and the Doctor keeping an eye on the house so that none of the angels could get out. If both of them kept an eye on it, then if the other blinked it wouldn't matter. But when they were half way there, another angel appeared on the side of the path when Rose had blinked and the Doctor had to look at that one.

They could tell that Martha had blinked at least once since then, because the other two angels were now standing outside the house. When they were at the TARDIS - thankfully with all three angels in sight - the Doctor stumbled and dropped the key.

"Shit!" he muttered, searching through the overgrown weeds for a hint of sliver. But he couldn't see anything. He was distracted from that when he felt the hand in his fall loose and heard the impact of a body hitting the ground. He turned to see Rose, unconscious on the ground. "Rose!" he cried. Forgetting his mission to find the key and plan to say away from her, he dropped to the ground and checked for her pulse.

Martha was smart enough to know that if the Doctor was worried about Rose that he would look after her, so she kept her eyes trained on the house and the three angels in front of it. And that is why none of them noticed when the fourth Weeping Angel - the same one Rose had supported herself on earlier - came behind them and sent them back to 1969.

**?...DW…?**

"Ow," the Doctor moaned rubbing his head as he sat up. He heard another groan behind him and he turned to see Martha dragging herself up from the ground. "Martha, you okay?" he asked groggily.

"God, what was that?" she gasped.

"That was time travel without a capsule," he told her, wincing as he tried to move again. His head hurt like hell. Martha probably felt worse. "Weeping Angels touch their victim and send them back in time. They feed on the potential energy of all the years you could have lived. Not sure what it got out of me since I have no time at all. It probably didn't get much off you or Rose either… Rose!" he suddenly remembered, and turned the other way to see the blonde still lying unconscious on the concrete beside him. "Rose!"

He moved over to her and cradled her in his lap.

"Rose, come on, wake up. Please!" he begged. He wasn't sure what was wrong. She had passed out before they had been transported back. He had no idea what was wrong with her, the only symptom was an accelerated heart rate. "Damn it, what's wrong with her?" he said in frustration.

"Oh, now he cares," Martha muttered.

Suddenly Rose shot up with a strangled scream. The Doctor caught her in his arms and she clung to him for dear life.

"It's okay," he told her. "Don't worry, it'll pass. We've just been sent back in time."

"What?" she said groggily. He helped her to her feet then moved off.

"The Weeping Angels sent us back in time. We don't have the TARDIS so we're stuck here."

"And where is here, exactly?" Martha said in annoyance. She was annoyed that they were stuck. And she was annoyed that the second Rose seemed almost alright he just buggers off. As Rose began to wobble, she moved over and helped her stand straight.

"Well, if I had to take a guess, I'd say 1969," he grinned, pulling a purple clear-file from his coat pocket. He opened it and took out a bunch of pictures. "Yip, look at that, Weeping Angels! Thank you, Sally Sparrow!"

"What?" Martha said in confusion.

"That was that girl, right?" Rose slurred slightly. "When we were hunting down the De-lizard-thingy, that girl gave you the folder and said we'd need it."

"Yip, oh, and look at this! It has everything we need to know. Well, mostly. It's got an account of what happened on her side."

"So, what are we going to do first?" Martha asked.

"First, we're going to find a flat."

"What?" both of the girls cried at the same time.

Suddenly Rose began to giggle hysterically. "The Doctor doing domestic… now this I gotta see!" Then she skipped off singing, "you'll have to get a _mortgage_, you'll have to get a _mortgage_!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes before following her out of the ally. "We're flatting, not buying," he muttered. But all the same, he couldn't help smiling at the memory of her teasing him about the same thing about a year ago… No! He could help it. Bad thoughts. Reason one: They had been joking about living together… intimately… Reason B… no, two: He had almost lost her _and _the TARDIS. Reason three - most importantly: thinking of the beast was an all too painful reminder that he was going to lose her one day… no matter what he did.

The instant he thought that, ice crept into his hearts. He didn't want to lose her, ever. If he was like this now… imagine what it would be like if he let it get any further. No, this was why he had to stay away. No matter how much it hurt. And if he had to do that by ignoring her completely for a few weeks, then so be it. As long as she didn't leave it would be okay. As long as he knew she was still there.

**?...DW…?**

"You've gotten worse," Martha commented casually. She wasn't going to try and push, every time she did Rose would shut her out. Rose didn't say anything. She just sat on her bed, completely zoned out.

"Hmm?" she said in a daze, realising Martha had spoken.

"I said that you've gotten worse." Rose just shrugged. "Still can't sleep?"

"Nope, insomnia's a bitch," Rose said.

"How much sleep have you had in the last week?"

"twenty-seven hours," she lied. It was the first number that popped into her head. She didn't know whether or not that was a good amount. Her brain was too jumbled and foggy to bother even attempting to do the math. But Martha knew that meant she would have only had three or four hours sleep every night for the last seven days. Rose knew that it was really much, much less.

"I'm surprised you haven't dropped unconscious!" she cried.

"I think I just did," Rose pointed out.

"Yeah, for a few minutes. Have you tried sleeping pills?"

"Yes, and I'm never using them again!" the tone she used gave Martha the impression she wouldn't tell her why, even if she begged.

"Rose, I'm worried about you," she said sitting next to the girl.

"I'm fine, Martha!" she snapped. But she was proven wrong immediately when she gasped and clutched her head.

"Rose!"

"I'm oaky, just a headache. Lack of sleepy syndrome is not fun!"

"You mean fatigue?"

"Yeah, that one," she said, sounding much like a child.

"Anything I can get you?" she asked softly. It was clear that Rose didn't want to be worried over. But she still wanted to help. If she had to do it at arms length, then so be it.

"Some aspirin would be nice. I swear I've gone through a whole pack in the last two weeks. It doesn't help all too much. I still feel terrible, but it takes the pain away. I like it when my head is numb. No pain an, an, an, an, an, an, an… an um… no thoughts." Now she was starting to sound like someone who was drunk _and_ on a sugar high.

"I'll see if the Doctor has any," she said standing up. She was keeping the worry inside at the moment.

"He won't. He doesn't use it," Rose said. "It can kill him."

"Okay, I'll go out and get you some," she said.

.

So while Rose curled up in a ball on her bed, trying to get some rest while avoiding sleep, Martha and the Doctor went to sort out the their first step to getting home. The woman was in her fifties at least. They saw recognition in her eyes at the sight of their clothes right away. They knew instantly that this was Kathy Nightingale.

.

.

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* * *

><p><em><strong>And yes, I do know what it's like to be SEVERLY lacking in sleep. I actually took a lot of Rose's symptoms from when I was almost that bad once. I've had insomnia for nearly five years now. (Haven't slept before 1am since then at least!) I've tried herbal remedies, but they don't work. And I've tried sleeping pills, but as I've pointed out, they trap you in your nightmares. Sleeping pills are EVIL!<strong>_

_**But oh well, way I see it, more time for writing.**_

_**And the lack of sleep thing. Yeah, that wasn't so good. I had five hours sleep in eight days. (That's one hour for five nights and three all nighters). I just couldn't sleep. Then I had work the very next day so I bought a few bottles of V… Yeah, VERY bad idea!**_

_**So yeah, it's fun writing this, because I know more or less how she would be acting. It's quite funny when you loose your brain-mouth filter!**_

_**Oh, and don't worry about the Doctor, Martha is going to be giving him a right good kick up his skinny ass very soon!**_


	49. Blink, Nightmares

_**WARNING! This chapter contains a little bit of swearing. Enjoy anyway.**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

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**Nightmares**

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"It's been a week, Doctor!" Martha said in annoyance.

"Trust me, Martha, I'm working on it," he said in a placating tone. "I know you hate being stuck here and that you don't like working in a shop, but we're getting there. Look, I've fixed the timey-wimey detector! Still has that little problem with the eggs, but we'll just make sure to stay away from chickens."

"Oh my god, you are so thick!" she cried. He opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off. "I don't give a damn about being stuck here! I know we're going to get out. And yeah, it's bloody annoying working in a shop and having to support the both of you. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about that girl just through there," she pointed at the wall that was right next to Rose's room. "That girl who has spent the last week locked in her room!"

"She goes for a walk to the park every day," he rolled his eyes, trying not to think about it. Rose had been very silent lately - when she wasn't babbling away insanely. That really should be something he should worry about. But he was sure Martha would handle it.

"You're kidding me! That's all you got? '_She goes for a walk in the park_!' Is that all you bloody well noticed. You haven't noticed how tired she is. The babbling. When she zones out for hours at a time. The constant headaches. The bloody hallucinations for crying out loud! She has insomnia, Doctor. _Severe_ insomnia. I don't know the last bloody time she slept because she won't tell me anything! Your _best friend_ is sick and you don't even give a damn. She could be in a coma right now and you'd still be bloody ignoring her!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled. He didn't like being yelled at like this. Especially when someone was trying to make him see the truth. But if Rose was that bad, then surely Martha could have done something by now, she _was_ a doctor!

"Stop being a fucking asshole and go to her!" Martha shouted. The Doctor looked up at her in shock. He'd never heard Martha swear so violently… and most certainly not at anyone she was friends with. He was so flabbergasted that he couldn't reply. "That's it!" she cried. "I give up on you. Rose needs you right now and you don't even care! If you want to lose a companion or two you're certainly going about it the right way! Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. Unlike most people in this house, I'll be getting more than one hour!" And before his mind could even form a coherent thought, Martha was gone.

The Doctor put the timey-wimey detector down on the table and, groaning, hung his head in his hands.

Rose couldn't be that bad could she? Truth be told, he would have barely noticed. He had been really avoiding her lately. He wouldn't even look at her as she slipped out of the house. The most acknowledgement she would get was a mumbled hello.

Martha was right. He was being a huge jerk. The biggest jerk ever. He was Sir Jerk Jerkity Jerk Face from Jerktown, Jerkania!

.

He stayed that way, with his head in his hands for a long time. A few hours even, just listening to each second tick by. The clock was twenty seconds out of sync by his reckoning. He let that sound sooth him, the constant _tick, tick, tick, tick_. Then it was interrupted by the sound of soft feet padding down the wooden hall way.

A few seconds later, Rose walked in and headed into their open kitchen to make a drink. Hmm… it was two AM. Martha was right; she really wasn't getting enough sleep.

He chanced a glance up at her. He couldn't see her face, her head was down and her hair had spilled down to cover it. But there was something in her demeanour that just screamed of exhaustion. He watched as she dumped five teaspoons into her cup.

"Rose, are you alright?" he asked. She flinched at the sound of his voice.

"Yeah," she answered in the same innocent, dazed voice she'd been using for a while now. "I'm is not just…" she seemed to stop in confusion as she got the sentence wrong. "I just can't sleep," she corrected.

"Well, I don't really think that rather strong coffee is helping," he told her.

Rose only shrugged, sculled the coffee, and walked out. There was a thump and a small moan as she stumbled and walked into the wall before finding the door to her room.

The Doctor stared after her. He raged a war in his head over whether or not to go to her. Because he had never seen her like this, and he had to admit, he was very concerned. Why would she be trying to keep herself awake if she _couldn't_ sleep? But he had to keep his distance from her. Otherwise everything would fall apart!

In the end his instinct to help her and be near her won out. How could he just stand by knowing that something was _very_ wrong. It wasn't until he was in her room that he realised exactly how wrong things were. He walked in to see her sitting on the bed almost as if in a trance.

The Doctor looked down at Rose and took his time to examine her closely. She looked so exhausted. He'd seen her without make up before, and quite frankly she looked beautiful. But at the moment he found that the make up had been hiding dark purple shadows under her eyes. Her skin was pale and going transparent from malnourishment and he could see her veins spidering across her chest and down her arms. Her eyes were glazed and half closed. She wasn't looking well at all.

She'd been saying that she was tired for a couple of weeks now, but he never imagined she was this bad. Why did he damn well have to ignore her? Perhaps if he hadn't been trying to distance himself from her, then he may have noticed just how bad she was. But he had been selfish and he _hadn't_ noticed. He felt absolutely horrible.

At the moment she was staring out into nothing. She looked out of it and far away. Almost as if she were hearing something no one else could.

"Rose?" he said. She didn't even notice him. "Rose…?" Still she only stared blankly at thin air. He became rather worried. "Rose?" he said more urgently, placing a hand on her shoulder. Finally, with a small gasp, she snapped out of the trance and looked at him. "Are you alright?" he questioned, sitting beside her on the bed.

"What? Yeah, sorry I'm…" she said in a daze. A confused look came across her face. "I might be going insane," she told him. "I think I can hear your heartbeats."

"What?"

"Nothing, don't worry," she brushed it off. "It'll just be those hallucinations. I'm just tired. I've been having trouble sleeping. I just… can't."

"You look exhausted," he said quietly. He gently ran his thumb across the darkened skin below her eyes. Ignoring the fact he was letting his façade slip. "What's the matter?"

She paused a moment, biting her bottom lip, before finally deciding to answer. "This is going to sound silly and childish," she said. "But I'm having nightmares."

"Rose, nightmares aren't just for children. Even 902 year old aliens have them," he told her softly, a small sad smile on his lips. But his face fell when he looked at her. Even just thinking about going to sleep was making her scared. He reached out and stroked her hair to comfort her. "They must be bad if you can't sleep."

"Terrible," she whispered, her voice cracking.

"When was the last time you slept?" he asked in concern.

"I had an hour or so a few nights ago… I couldn't help it. I didn't want to. I just fell asleep…"

"What do you mean 'didn't want to'."

"I want the dreams gone," she told him. "When I'm awake they go away. So I'm awake and dreams are bye bye. I gave up trying to sleep when the sleepy pills didn't work. I don't like sleepy pills, they're evil."

"You've been trying to stay awake for longer than a week?"

"Yup, since before we got here. But every now and then I can't help it. I only fell asleep twice this week," she said the last part proudly, like it was a big accomplishment.

His mouth dropped in surprised horror. _He'd _had more sleep than her in the last week! It wasn't right, Time Lords could barely run on that little sleep, let alone humans! He felt so guilty that he hadn't seen it. "And you let me drag you around on that Narushian treasure hunt!"

"You were so excited about it," she said feebly, shrugging.

This just made him feel even guiltier. He pulled her into a hug. "Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I can't believe I didn't see…"

"It's okay," she told him. "You've obviously had a lot on your mind the last month. I've missed you, but I know what ever it was must be important. I hope it's okay now. I missed you. You're always there for me."

He wasn't sure if it were possible to feel guiltier at this moment. She thought he was distracted. She was worried about him, when he was purposefully trying to keep away from her! And he had failed to take care of the one who meant the most to him.

"Come on," he said softly. "You need sleep." Gently he laid her back on the pillows. Rose looked up at him with fear in her eyes and he almost froze. She looked terrified.

"No, no! I don't wanna sleep. Sleeping bad! Sleep-sleeping very, very bad! Sleeping mean, an scary, an, an, an, an, an, an… um…"

"Rose, please," he soothed her, cutting off her stuttered, forgotten thought. "You have to sleep. You can't go on like this, you're going to kill yourself. Please, Rose. I need you to sleep. Do it for me?" he knew that was low. He knew that Rose - especially in this state - would do anything he asked. He also knew that he would do anything for her.

"D-Doctor," she said in a broken whisper. "Could you stay… please?" She looked up at him with such scared, beseeching eyes. He could hardly refuse her at the best of times. But seeing her like this…

He knew that he really couldn't afford to be this close to her anymore. But his Rose was in pain. And he would do anything to chase her nightmares away. He'd already hurt her enough by not seeing this sooner. He had to fix this.

.

Silently he lay down next to her. He pulled her into his arms and shifted closer as she snuggled in. He could feel her single heart beating rapidly against his chest. But as he held her close and stroked her hair, it calmed down and eventually she fell asleep. And after a while, even he drifted off to sleep.

.

The Doctor was dreaming. He knew it was a dream. Firstly everything was covered with a golden haze. Secondly he was looking right at himself.

The other him was glairing at him, and he could feel that he was glaring right back. He was so angry.

"And that's why you've been scared for months, is it?" the other him snapped bitterly. For some reason this pained his hearts to see himself so horrible. And he felt almost guilty. He turned away, tears in his eyes.

*The scene changed with a flash. He saw a face, a man's face. He had such cruel and insane and dark brown eyes. He laughed manically, finding pleasure in someone's pain…

*Now he was looking down at Jack's dead body. Tears were in his eyes. He looked back up to see the other him standing there. He showed no sign of emotion. He was hard and cold and uncaring. And it chilled him to the bone.

*It was night. Something was wrong but he was so happy. He started to move, but just then a Dalek appeared from nowhere and shot. Before the blast hit him, the other him jumped in front and was struck down.

*He was alone in the TARDIS. Everyone was gone now. He had been holding in the pain. But now it was overwhelming. His head felt as if it was being prised apart and his chest felt as if it were being carved out. His body burned like he was on fire.

He collapsed to the ground, no longer able to stand it. He screamed in agony. But it wasn't his scream…

*He looked down at a small static-y computer screen. On it was the Beast, it laughed evilly. "And the lost girl,so far away from home," it rasped. "The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." A cold chill flooded his body. Rose was going to die.

*He ran through the mud and the rubble and the blood. Martha was running just in front of him. They panted as they fled in panic.

"Rose!" Martha called back to him. "Rose, run!"

"Martha!" he screamed as he tripped up and stumbled to the ground. But it wasn't his voice he spoke with, it was Rose's. He realised that he was dreaming from Rose's point of view.

As he rolled over to get up, a large metal orb hovered over him. He froze in terror. And for good reason too. For in the next second it was armed with many deadly spikes. One of these spikes shot out and impaled him through the side. He screamed out in agony, but once again, it was not his scream.

"Rose!" Martha shrieked.

*Then he was back on the TARDIS, writhing on the floor. The pain was excruciating. The sound of Rose's screams echoed around him. And the sound of drums echoed in his head. Drums, drums, drums. They didn't stop.

And pain, such excruciating agony. He was burning…

.

The Doctor jerked awake. That had been horrible, so horrible. Why the hell had he dreamed that! As his vision came into focus he saw that his hand was resting on Rose's temple. He froze. It hadn't been his nightmare… it had been hers. He had dreamt everything from her point of view because as he had slept, he had unwittingly gone into her mind.

Rose was curled in a tight ball before him. She was scrunching the covers to her and was shaking. In her sleep she whimpered.

"Rose," he said, trying to wake her up. "_Rose!"_ At his touch she woke up with a loud gasp. Her eyes wide and scared, tears welled up and ran down her face. Sobbing she buried her head back into his shoulder. "It's okay," he murmured soothingly. "It's okay, I'm here. I've got you. We're safe."

His attempts to calm her down didn't get very far. She was worked up into hysterics. She feared this dream more than anything else in her life. And understandably so. It showed the man she loved, cold and uncaring, her best friend dead, herself writhing in pain, him dying, her dying… What the laughing man had anything to do with it, he had no idea…

He held her close to him and ran his hand down her back comfortingly. Usually this would have worked by now. Think, think, think… What would make him calm down if he were this bad? Then he remembered Rose's sweet voice drifting down to him through a fog of pain. A lullaby. Yes, that would help.

Tentatively, he opened his mouth and started to sing. He had never admitted to anyone that in this incarnation he actually had a rather decent singing voice. So he sung her a lullaby, hoping to calm her down. It was the same one she had sung to him. The song was in Gallifreyan, so she didn't know what the words were. But he did… he almost smiled at how his favourite childhood lullaby seemed so appropriate.

_Hush my darling, wipe away your tears.  
>Know that I am here to chase away all your fears.<br>I love you, truly.  
>And everything's okay.<br>Forever by your side, I will stay._

_Take my hand, my love, and we will runaway.  
>Through the light and dark, through night and day.<br>I will keep you safe.  
>And erase all your scars.<br>We will journey on, through the stars._

_When times get hard, hold on to me tight.  
>Against your nightmares, I will always fight.<br>I know that you are scared.  
>And the weight is much to bear.<br>But you're going to be okay, this I swear._

_Take my hand, my love, and we will runaway.  
>Through the light and dark, through night and day.<br>I will keep you safe.  
>And erase all your scars.<br>We will journey on, through the stars._

_Ooh, the stars…_

It wasn't long until he heard the soft even breaths as Rose drifted back into a somewhat peaceful slumber. Placing his hand back on her head, he went into her mind slightly. Just enough so that he would be able to fight of the nightmare if it came again.

He smiled knowing that for the first time in a long time, Rose would get some peace and rest… He also knew that there was no way that he could stay away from her any longer.

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* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey! Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas!<strong>_

_**Don't worry, I'll be getting back on track with the original story line in the next chapter. Just had to do this one because it was VERY important. Sorry, if I got your hopes up with the last sentence, but no, he isn't telling her he loves her yet.**_

_**It was fun doing the dream. Just to let you know, the last part of it is the same as the first part shown in the TARDIS. As you've probably guessed by the 'gold glow' and the future knowledge you already have, these are things that really will happen. So I've written a scene for every single one… except the Doctor dying.**_

_**And yes, I did write the lullaby. I originally wrote it with slightly different lyrics for my own book 'Silver Blood'. I just had to change a few lines and it was more or less perfect.**_

_**Now I've got to try and get the rest of the Blink related stuff with Billy into the next chapter. Yay!**_

_**Hope you liked it! =D**_


	50. Blink, Way Home

**Way Home**

.

.

"Look! It's going 'bing'!" the Doctor cried in delight as they walked along. In one hand he held the timey-wimey detector. In the other he held Rose's hand so that she didn't fall behind.

She may have managed to get more hours of sleep last night than she had in two weeks, but that wasn't going to make her better right away. She was still rather out of it and delirious. And despite his efforts, she had woken from the nightmare some time around eight in the morning. But at least she woke to find herself curled in his arms and he soothed her. He knew he should have left. But for tonight at least, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just didn't have the hearts to leave her when she was so scared.

The 'binging' got closer together and they looked ahead to see a man appear and slump down the wall. He stayed there, sitting in the shadows.

"Welcome," he called as they walked closer.

"Where am I?" the man who must be Billy asked in confusion.

"1969," he said simply. There was no point lying to this man. There was no way he would ever get back home. He had spent a few hours thinking of other ways of how he could do this, but there was noting he could do. They needed him here. "Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to."

"Oh, the moon landing's brilliant!" Martha put in. "We went four times. Back when we had transport," she said accusingly towards the Doctor. She knew he was making an effort to be there for Rose now, but she still hadn't fully forgiven him, even if Rose had.

"Working on it!" he cried.

"Mmm, I liked the moon landing," Rose said dreamily. "I wish I were on the moon… Well, I've been on the moon before. But we didn't have much oxygen then, and a blood-sucky-plasma-thingie tried to kill my Doctor. I didn't like her. Oh, and then those stupid Judo-rhinos wanted to kill us because apparently we weren't human… Well, he's not, but it's the same difference."

Billy looked at her in bewilderment and the Doctor rolled his eyes affectionately. She really did say such cute things when she was delirious.

"Err, how did I get here?" Billy asked.

"Same way we did. Touch of an angel," he said letting go of Roses hand and slipping under the bar to sit beside him. "Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year." Billie tried to stand, but fell back down, still disorientated. "No, no, no, no, no, don't get up. Time travel without a capsule, _nasty_. Catch your breath, don't go swimming for half an hour."

"I don't… I can't…." Billy stuttered.

"Fascinating race the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had, all your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy."

"What in god's name are you talking about?" Billy cried.

"Trust me," Martha said to him. "Just nod when stops for breath."

"Yeah, but he's so cute when he babbles," Rose said, more to herself than anyone. "Especially when he puts the glasses. The glasses are sexy. I like his voice…"

The Doctor blushed slightly, trying to hide his grin, especially when Rose didn't seem to realise she'd said that aloud. Martha stifled a giggle.

"Tracked you down with this," the Doctor held up the contraption he had been carrying. "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes 'bing' when there's stuff.-"

"Very descriptive, Doctor," Rose sniggered, forgetting that she'd been doing that a lot herself.

"-Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces… whether you want to or not, actually, so I've learnt to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow!"

Billy looked about, utterly bewildered and somewhat concerned about the strange man beside him. "I don't understand, where am I?" he said.

"1969, like he says," Martha said gently.

"Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor. So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow. And I'm sorry, Billy, I am very, very sorry. It's going to take a while."

"What are you on about?" Billy asked. "Wait, how do you know my name… and how do you know Sally?"

"It's a long story," the Doctor said. "Why don't you come back to our flat and we'll explain it." He helped the man up and they staggered back.

**?...DW…?**

"Wait a minute," Billy cried. He hadn't touched the cup of coffee that sat in front of him. "I'm sorry, _what_ is going on?" The Doctor opened his mouth to repeat, but Billy cut him off. "Okay, I get that this is 1969. I think I've had enough proof of that. The fact that I've been taken back in time by being touched by a moving statue makes it a little easier to believe that you are time travellers. Especially considering you're clothes… I mean, what is that?" He pointed to the jacket Rose was wearing. It was very close to earth style, but it seemed just a little strange and out of it's time.

"Just something I picked up on Seleen II in 7280," she replied playing with the zipper.

"Right… And you want me to live my life here so that I can tell Sally Sparrow to look at her list of DVD's?"

"Yes," the Doctor confirmed. "We're going to put a hidden list of instructions on these seventeen DVD's." He handed over the list.

"What's so special about these?"

"They're Sally's," Martha put in. "These are all the DVD's she owns. I mean, if there was a message put on lots of DVD's, but only the ones that you own, surely you'd figure out that the message is meant for you."

"Where did you get that list?" he asked.

"Sorry, Billy. Can't tell you that one. Sally might understand… but I'm afraid you never will."

"Why not?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Billy, but the next time you see Sally… it will be the last. You're going to die. I've got an account of what happened in the future. After meeting you Sally gets a call - so don't lose that number in your pocket - and goes to the hospital to see you… It says that you die when the rain stops."

"It was raining when I left…" he said in a daze.

"Tell you what?" the Doctor said, trying to lighten the mood. "How about you stay here with us. You need somewhere to stay until you can set up a life here. You can have my room."

"Then, where will you stay?"

"Oh, I don't sleep much," he reassured Billy. "Besides, I could always stay in Rose's room… Don't think she'd let me leave at this point anyway… Speaking of which, we need to get you back to normal," he said to Rose. He stood and pulled her up, then proceeded to lead her to her room. "So, you Missy, are going to sleep."

It was nearly midnight after all.

.

It was a week more until they were able to do anything else. In that time they helped Billy get settled in and managed to procure him a job as a producer.

Rose was starting to get better. She was more alert these days. Still a little tired and she hadn't regained her brain-mouth filter. But she was looking healthier and she didn't zone out quite as much. It was obvious that she was much, much happier.

The Doctor had stayed with her every single night. He had been there to calm her and sooth her into sleep and to comfort her if she did have the nightmare. He managed to put a block on her mind so that when she slept, she would slip into such a deep sleep that no dream could reach her. She even managed to sleep a full forty-eight hours straight. She had been relieved, but not very happy that he'd let her sleep for two days.

But they were all getting excited now. Because there were only a few more things they had to do… and then they would be home.

**?...DW…?**

"Okay, ready?" Billy asked them. The Doctor nodded. He had read through the entire transcript previously and knew roughly what he wanted to say. But they wanted the reaction to be natural, so instead they had only written Sally and Larry's parts of the conversation on the teleprompter.

Rose giggled and gave him a hug before leaving his side. He smiled seeing that Billy had already started filming.

'_The Doctor - Who's the Doctor - He's the Doctor,_' the words appeared on the teleprompter. He sniffed and put on his glasses.

"Yep. That's me," he said.

'_Okay, that was scary - No, it sounds like he's replying, but he always says that.'_

"Yes, I do."

'_And that._'

"Yep, and this," he said cheekily.

'_He can hear us! - No he can't. I've got a transcript, everything he says. "Yep, that's me". "Yes, I do". "Yep, and this".'_

"Are you going to read out the whole thing?" he cried. He could just imagine some idiot reading out the entire script just to prove a point.

'_Who are you?'_

"I'm a time traveller," he told whoever would be watching. "Or I was. I'm stuck in 1969."

"_We're_ stuck!" Martha cried dragging Rose back on screen with her. Rose blinked in surprise and stumbled over. He had to help her up. "All of space and time, he promised me. Now I've got a job in a shop. I've got to support him and Rose!"

"Martha!" he admonished.

"Hey! What's wrong with working in a shop?" Rose cried indignantly. "I used to work in a shop."

"Sorry," Martha murmured, but Rose continued anyway.

"Besides, I thought it was sweet that you've been looking after Mr Useless and Miss Sleepy Me."

"Oh, go back to sleep you!" The Doctor laughed pushing them out of shot.

'_I've seen this bit before._'

"Quite possibly," he mused. It was likely from the sounds of her accounts that she had seen bits an pieces of this before she saw the whole thing.

'_1969, that's where you're talking from?'_

"'Fraid so."

'_But you're replying to me. You can't know exactly what I'm gonna say 40 years before I say it!_'

"Thirty-eight!" he cried. Was her math really that bad?

'_How is this possible?'_

"People don't understand time.-"

"I do!" Rose interrupted from off screen with a sing-song voice.

"-It's not what you think it is."

'_Then what is it?_'

"Complicated," he said.

'_Tell me._'

"Very complicated," he reiterated.

'_I'm clever. I'm listening. Don't patronise me. People have died. I'm not happy. Tell me.'_

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect," he explained, "but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff."

"You're wibbly-wobbly!" Rose cried.

"And you're currently delusional," he countered to her.

'_I've seen this before. You said that sentence got away from you._'

"It _did_ get away from me, yeah…" he trailed off. How did that sentence go so astray? It couldn't have had anything to do with the gorgeous, nutty blonde trying to distract him from behind the camera.

'_Next you say, "Well, I can hear you"._

"Well, I _can_ hear you," he said.

'_Impossible_.'

"Not hear you exactly, but I know everything you're going to say."

'_How?_'

"Look to your left," he told her. He had read that Larry had been sitting to her left writing the transcript. "I've to a copy of the finished transcript. It's on my autocue," he said after a pause.

'_How? It's still being written.'_

"I told you. I'm a time traveller. I got it in the future." Well, her future at least.

'_So, you're reading from a transcript of a conversation you're still having?_'

"Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey," he waved it off. "What matters is we can communicate. We have got big problems now. They've taken the blue box, haven't they? The angels have the phone box."

'_Angels? You mean those statue things?_'

"Creatures from another world."

'_But they're just statues._'

"Only when you see them."

'_What does that mean?_'

"Lonely assassins, they were called," he told her. "No-one knows where they came from. They're as old as the universe, or very nearly. They've survived this long as they have the most perfect defence system ever evolved. They are quantum-locked. They don't exist when being observed. The moment they're seen by any other living creature they freeze into rock. No choice. It's a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone. And you can't kill a stone. Course, a stone can't kill you either. But then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh, yes it can! That's why they cover their eyes. They're not weeping, they can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. The loneliest creatures in the universe. And I'm sorry, I am very, very sorry, it's up to you now."

'_What am I supposed to do?_'

"The blue box, it's my time machine," he said enthusiastically, trying to get across the seriousness of the situation. "There is a world of time energy in there they could feast on forever. The damage they can do can switch off the sun. You have got to send it back to me!"

'_How?_ - _**End script**_.'

"And that's it, I'm afraid," he said taking the glasses off again. "There's no more from you on the transcript, that's all I've got. I dunno what stopped you talking, but I can guess. They're coming. The angels are coming for you. But listen, your life could depend on this." He leant forward, closer to the camera to get the point across. "Don't blink! Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They're fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away and don't blink! Good luck!"

The light on the camera blinked off and Billy closed it up.

"Okay, that's it. So now what?" he said.

"Now," the Doctor said standing up. "You live your life. Have a good one, enjoy it. You should stick to the film business, it suits you." Billy grinned and nodded. "I'm sorry. I really wish I could take you back, but-"

"You need me to talk to Sally. I know," he said, he didn't seem to mind all that much.

"Just a few rules, no contacting anyone who may know you. Not your parents, or anyone in your family. Not ever. No one can know what happened to you, I'm sorry." He placed his hand on the man's shoulder as he nodded in resignation. "And you'll need this," he said handing him a piece of paper. "This is the encryption for the Easter Egg and a list of all the DVD's to put it on. Put the encryption on the DVD's and it will activate protocol 712, and send my ship back to us."

"Thank you, Doctor," Billy said. "Good luck."

"Have a good life, Billy Shipton." They shook hands. "Come on, you two," he said to Rose and Martha. "We've got a house to graffiti."

**?...DW…?**

They sat down in the cellar of Wester Drumlins. The house was, fortunately, empty of all people… and all Weeping Angels. They had just painted a message to Sally on the wall of the upstairs room and now they were waiting. He had set the co-ordinates on the Easter Egg encryption to this date. So it should have either been waiting for them, or it would arrive by the end of the day.

Billy had decided to keep the flat for a while longer. He acted a little out of this time, but he would be one of those forward thinking guys… And let's face it; he would come be one of the few old men who could handle a cellphone and a computer.

Two hours had now passed since they arrived. But there was no need to panic. It still had nine hours until the TARDIS's absence became a problem. But still, the Doctor couldn't help pacing. Martha was sitting against the wall, trying her hardest not to moan and whinge in frustration and boredom. Rose had curled herself into a ball and was pressing her hands over her head.

Noticing this, the Doctor stopped and knelt down next to her. "Rose, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Just, my head's beating." Odd way to put it, he thought. He'd heard 'pounding', but not 'beating'. He held her hand to stop the nervous tick of a drumming pattern she had going on. He wanted her to clam down and the constant tap, tap, tap, tap - tap, tap, tap, tap, was getting irritating. Rose sighed in frustration and threw her head back against the wall. "I want the TARDIS back. I miss her. And I'm out of Aspirin. Ugh, if she doesn't arrive soon I'm going to drag her back through time to here myself!"

He blinked when she said this. He hoped to what ever god was listening that she didn't mean it literally. He knew that she still had a bit of Bad Wolf, but could she do that? He dragged up a little bit of courage, but just as he was about to ask, they heard a familiar sound.

They all whipped around to see the TARDIS materialise before them.

"Yes!" he whooped, jumping up and fisting the air. He picked Rose up and spun her around in a hug. He may not have minded the almost domestic couple of weeks they'd had, but you could never beat the TARDIS!

With in a few seconds, the three of them were inside.

"Hello, Sweetie, I missed you," Rose said, hugging a coral pillar.

The Doctor laughed at her and grinned. He turned to the girls. "Welcome home!"

.

Five days later, Rose walked into the console room. The Doctor smiled at her, then looked back at the controls... then he did a double-take. He stared in amusement at her shirt. It read '_The angels have the phone box!_'

"Where did you get that?" he laughed.

"On the Easter Egg forum," she grinned. "We have quite the following. Did you know that there are at least three arguments over whether I really am sleep deprived, or if I'm actually stoned." The Doctor burst out laughing.

"You're kidding me!"

"Nope, check it out!" she laughed with him. She leant over to the console and brought up the 2007 internet.

Martha watched happily as Rose and the Doctor laughed together and joked about as they looked though the website that was dedicated to the hidden video they had made. After much sleep and much help from the Doctor, Rose was back to her old self. And she and the Doctor were just as close as they had always been… Martha was glad that everything was back to normal.

.

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><p><em><strong>Yay for people coming to their senses!<strong>_

_**Now, I know you're all looking forward to Utopia… But I've made a little bit of a detour. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love it though. Bit of an emotional rollercoaster and I hope I covered everything I need to. But I'm 99.999% sure that you'll love it.**_

_**I hope I covered everything in this one and I hope you like it. Especially since we don't really see what happens in the normal one.**_

_**I recon that Sally is SO adorable!**_

_**And it creeps me out the montage at the end that gets you believing that EVERY statue in the world is a Weeping Angel!**_

_**Also the double episode in season 5 kind of annoys me. It goes against half of the things said in this. Like the fact that they don't ACTUALLY kill you. And they've added in things that they didn't worry about in this one, like 'what ever holds the image of an angel, is an angel' and the whole 'don't look at its eyes' thing… Oh well, still a good couple of episodes. It's actually my 7 year old cousin's favourite. She doesn't want to watch anything else… I should get her a Weeping Angels t-shirt.**_

_**Anyway, enough of me babbling! I hope you enjoyed this! Please review.**_


	51. A Change, Fire

_**So… Here's a short one that I wrote in myself. It's only three chapters long (Plus an extra one chapter story). But I hope you like it =D**_

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><p>.<p>

.

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***A Change***

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**Fire**

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"Here we are," the Doctor cried excitedly. "Doroon-Ju. Home of some of the best natural water slides in the universe. Better than anything you'll ever see on Earth and so much more fun."

"Can't wait," Martha said throwing her towel and togs bag over her shoulder.

"I've been waiting for a decent summer planet for weeks," Rose said weakly, jumping up. But instantly she became light headed and fell. The Doctor caught her. She slumped slightly in his arms and he sat her down on the chair.

"Rose, are you okay?" he asked sounding very concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. He could tell she was lying.

"Rose, you've been out of it all day and you're as pale as an Ood."

"I just feel a little Ood that's all," she joked weakly. "Now come on, let's go. Allons-y and all that." She tried to get up again but he sat her back down.

"No," he said firmly. "You look like you're about to keel over. Look, how about we all sit this one out."

"No, that's not fair," she complained.

"Ugh, you Tyler's," he said. "You lot could be on your deathbed and still find enough strength to argue! Come on, you're going to bed. Me and Martha can look after you."

"No, you can't!" she cried. "You're all ready to go! Look, fine, I'll go to bed. But you two go on. I probably just need to sleep it off anyway." He looked at her in concern, not wanting to leave her. "Go," she said. "I won't be much fun anyway. I can handle myself."

"Are you sure?" Martha asked from the door.

"Yes."

"Okay then, Come on Doctor," Martha ordered. "Some people like to be left alone when their sick."

"Yeah, so do dying animals," he muttered. Rose attempted a giggle and pushed him forward.

"I'll be fine. Go…"

With a last long worried look at her the Doctor finally gave in.

"Alright," he said softly. "But look after yourself. Sleep, drink water, don't leave the TARDIS."

"Yes sir!" she joked, but it came out sounding pretty pathetic. Her energy was leaving her fast.

They made to leave then but the Doctor was too busy looking back at her and Martha had to drag him out.

Rose listened as they walked away from the TARDIS, arguing over going back to look after her. She turned to go back to her room… and collapsed on the ground.

.

The truth was that she was worse than she had let on. But she didn't want to ruin the Doctor and Martha's fun. Nor did she want Martha running a medical exam on her. She hated medical exams.

Ever since she had woken up that morning she knew that things weren't right. She felt… odd. There was no other way to explain it. And slowly the pain had begun building up. She felt nauseous and her chest ached. Her head felt as if someone had brought a boulder down on it.

She had wanted to go with them, but the Doctor was right. She wasn't well at all. The only reason why she stayed behind was because she suddenly felt much, much worse.

.

Now she lay on the floor, curled in a ball while pain shot through her. Her head felt as if it was being ripped open and it drew a scream from her lungs.

In that instant, it began... Her skin felt as if it were on fire and her head as if it were exploding. Her chest felt as if it were being prised apart. She screamed. That's all she could do – scream. It hurt too much to do anything else.

It was like every cell in her body was pulled apart and slammed back together over and over again.

She screamed.

The sound of her screams echoed around her. And in her head, echoed the heartbeats. The drums. Drums, drums, drums. They didn't stop. Just as it had in her dreams. Her nightmares. They were coming true.

Thoughts and memories swirled around in her head. The Face of Boe, the Family, Tim. The pain and the agony they had spoken of. They knew this would happen. Just as she had.

She looked up at the console. Around her and it was gold dust and energy. And she swore she could hear singing amongst the echoes of her screams and drums.

She reached for the base of the console. The heart had opened up again and the dust was pouring from it and encasing them both. The singing was stronger here. She reached out to her, reaching for comfort and solace. She didn't know how long she was conscious for this living hell, this torture.

But eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. And her world faded to black.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor and Martha had been at the water slides for two hours now and it was clear he wasn't enjoying himself. It wasn't just the fact that Rose wasn't with him, but something just didn't feel right. He knew that something was wrong and it was more than her just being ill. It was a feeling deep in his gut. And he had a feeling she had gotten worse.

Martha looked at him in annoyance.

"Alright, we'll go back!" she cried.

"What?" he said distractedly. "I didn't say anything."

"No, but you've been sighing and looking towards the TARDIS every few minutes. Seriously you should see yourself," she laughed. "Rose isn't well, and you're not going to have any fun until she's better. Come on, let's go back."

The Doctor smiled at her and they headed back to the changing rooms.

.

"You should tell her," Martha said as they met up on the way back to the TARDIS.

"Tell her what?" he said ignorantly.

"That you remember," Martha said. He looked up at her in surprise. He had never told her that he remembered what had happened in 1913. "Quite frankly I'm sick of hiding things," she told him. "And when ever you remember anything it's because 'I told you'. You loved her as a human, you love her now. And _she_ has loved _you_ for years. She loved you in your last incarnation, she loved you as a human and she loves you now. 'Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove' – remember.

She's hurting. She saw what it was like to be loved back by you and now she has to pretend it never happened!" The Doctor just stared at the ground. "Tell her you love her!"

"I can't!" he said sharply.

"Why not?"

"Because I love her!"

"So you can't tell her you love her _because_ you love her?"

"Yes!" he cried. "Martha, I am a Time Lord. I don't age and I don't die… well, not easily. Rose is human. If you knew what it was like… what it's like seeing…" he hung his head again. "She will grow old and one day she will die. And I will still be the same young looking man who regenerated in front of her all those years ago. A human and a Time Lord… I just can't…"

Martha looked at him with a growing look of sympathy and anger.

"She at least has the right to know," Martha told him snappily. "If you could see her when you're not looking… It's getting worse Doctor. And she's scared. I don't know what it is, I don't know if it's you or something else. But she needs you Doctor. And she needs you to at least tell her what's happening."

Before he could argue a word more she put on a burst of speed and reached the TARDIS before him.

"And what am I supposed to say?" he said in a low voice and barred her way to the door. "Rose, I remember everything that happened when I was human. And yes I do love you. But I'm afraid that can't come to anything."

"It's better than being left in the air."

She pushed her way past him and opened the door. Grumpily the Doctor followed her in. He tried to shake away the guilt and resentment as he waked through the door. He was going to go check on Rose, and if she was still awake she would only get worried if she saw him in a foul mood. And Rose being worried for him was the last thing she should be doing at the moment.

But stepping in he shuddered. There was a strange energy about the place, along with an echo of horror and pain. Instantly he knew something was wrong. Was it the TARDIS? The energy felt as if she had been through a brutal telepathic assault!

But if something bad had happened here then he only had one worry. He made to run to Rose's room, but stopped the second he reached the deck of the console room. Just further around the edge, hidden from the door by the console, was Rose's limp figure, unconscious as she held onto the console as if seeking comfort.

"Rose!" he cried in a panic. At the sound of his voice she stirred slightly. He rushed forward and scooped her up in his arms. She was deathly pale, but the colour was slowly returning to her cheeks. "Rose?" he said worryingly.

.

Rose's eyes fluttered open. The drums and the pain had stopped. She was in the Doctor's arms and he was looking down at her in distress. But for once, he was not the first thing she noticed.

What she noticed first was the lack of pain. It almost left her feeling hollow… but… she felt far from hollow. She felt like she was more than she ever had been before.

Everything seemed oddly different. Everything she saw was much clearer and brighter and defined, she could see colours she never knew existed. The sounds she heard… the things she felt. It was as if her senses were on maximum.

Her head didn't hurt anymore. If anything it felt clearer and… well – bigger. It was as if there were halls in her mind that she had never had the key to, but they had been unlocked and she was free to wander them and fill them with what she liked.

The universe seemed to spin around her.

"Rose, are you okay?" he said anxiously, as she blinked a few times. She was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her.

"Yeah, I'm…" she just couldn't finish that sentence. She was too overwhelmed by the sensory overload. She put her hand on her chest to calm herself. Her hearts were beating like mad…

She froze.

_Hearts!_

Hearts as in two…! She could feel them beneath her hand. One where it normally was, on the left side of her chest. But now, beating right along beside it was a new second heart.

Her eyes widened in shock, all she could do was sit there. The Doctor was supporting her, holding her up by the shoulder, and she was sitting there with wide eyes and a hand across her chest – unmoving.

"Rose?" he said a bit more urgently.

"What?" she said slightly distracted. Suddenly she thought about what the two hearts meant. What would the Doctor say when he found out, what would he do to her? Would he think she was some sort of freak, an un-natural echo of a Time Lord?

Thinking of how he would react, she jumped away from him as if his touch were poison. She saw a hurt look in his eyes. She could see her wild, frantic eyes reflected in his.

"I – I-" she stuttered. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm much better. I'm normal. Nothing's wrong with me I-" She looked about at the two of them in a panic. Then without any warning, she ran to her room.

"Rose!" the Doctor cried after her in confusion and hurt and worry.

But she didn't listen to him. She just kept running till she was in the safety of her room.

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><p><em><strong>So! I hope you liked this first chapter!<strong>_

_**Firstly: Yay! Rose is a Time Lady… or something close, no one knows yet.**_

_**Second: I know it's a horrible way to change. But I had to do it. If there's one thing that annoys me about a few of the 'Rose becomes a Time Lady' fics, it's when she just suddenly changes. It's worse when no one knows that it's happened or it happens suddenly for no reason. Hence, I have given a reason (full explanation in the last chapter of this), and I've been dropping hints since the third Chapter!**_

_**The reason why I've made her be in pain is, well… her entire species is changing, her entire cellular structure. Of course that's going to hurt like hell! I mean, look at the Doctor in 'Human Nature'!**_

_**And the reason I did the double heartbeats haunting her (Evolution of the Daleks and twice in Blink), I figured that if Donna can hear the HUMAN Doctor's heart echoing back through time, surely Rose would hear her own.**_

_**Yes, this is one (two) of the scenes from Rose's nightmare.**_

_**And yip, they are idiots =D**_

_**But we still love them!**_

_**Yeah, see I've already got the next four chapters written. So I'm probably going to post them all within the hour. If you could review each chapter on it's own before you read the next one that would be pretty cool. Or if you to a summary at the end. I just really want to hear what you all think of it =D**_

_**Plus I LOVE your reviews. I'm addicted.**_


	52. A Change, Secrets

**Secrets**

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"Rose!" the Doctor cried running after her.

Seeing the look on her face had scared him half to death and nearly tore his hearts to pieces. It was such a devastating, maddened look. She was so scared and frantic. In that moment she had looked scared of everything. But worst of all, she looked scared of him, as if he would hurt her or worse.

What the hell had happened while he was gone!

"Rose?" he knocked on her door. There was no reply, but he could hear faint noises from the other side of the door. She was muttering to herself like a madwoman, perhaps pacing about the room too.

Something was very, _very_ wrong. He tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

"Rose!" he cried, really beginning to panic. He banged on the door. The muttering stopped and there was only silence. Beginning to go out of his mind he took out the sonic-screwdriver and tried the lock… but it was deadlock sealed. How could it be deadlock sealed?

The TARDIS. The TARDIS was the only one powerful enough to do a deadlock seal on her own doors. For some reason Rose was hiding, and the TARDIS was helping her.

"Rose…" Still there was no answer. Despairingly he leaned his head against the door.

What could be making her act like this?

.

Dejectedly he walked back to the console room. Martha was waiting for him there, a look of concern on her face.

"Is she okay?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said in frustration. "The _TARDIS_ locked me out! You're meant to be on my side!" he called up at the console. He flopped down, defeated, on the pilot's chair.

"Give her an hour or so," Martha reasoned. "She looked absolutely freaked out… Ugh, perhaps you're right. We should have stayed."

"I've never seen her like that," he whispered. "She's faced down Dalek and Cybermen armies and Slitheen and beasts and werewolves… And I have never seen her so scared. The way the she looked at me…" Martha laid a hand on his shoulder.

"How about I go see her?" she said softly. "Maybe what she needs right now is a friend."

"But I'm-"

"The man she loves," Martha cut him off. "And you're a Time Lord. Perhaps she just needs a human friend at the moment."

**?...DW…?**

Martha waited about an hour while the Doctor looked at the camera to see what had happened. But it would reach the point where they left and Rose collapsed – then it would just be static for two hours until it jumped to about ten minutes before they came back to find her unconscious.

She watched as his frustration grew. But she could do nothing about it.

Finally, when she thought Rose may have clamed down, she walked down to her room. She knocked on the door but there was no reply. Hesitantly she tried the handle, it swung open with ease.

Inside, Rose was sitting up cross-legged on the bed. Her hands were placed on her chest, her face was pale and she had a far off look in her eyes. She seemed oblivious to everything else around her.

Martha took this time to study her friend. There was just something different about her. It was almost as if she had changed somehow. Her hair seemed longer and shinier, yet it didn't show any sign of new growth. Her already beautiful features seemed even more defined. She looked as though she had lost weight - well, she'd already lost a lot recently from the lack of sleep she was getting - but she looked healthier, and it made her already well defined curves even curvier… if that was possible. How could someone go from looking dead, to looking so beautiful in a few hours? Though, looking at her she still looked very sick. But it was the look of someone who was recovering.

"Rose?" she said gently. Rose's head snapped up to her and her hands flew to her sides as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't.

"How – how did you get in?" she asked, her voice sounded raw. But it didn't escape her attention that her accent seemed different. Her words were slightly more articulated. "TARDIS was keeping you out."

"Obviously she thought you needed company," Martha said sitting down beside her. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Rose replied honestly. "I don't really know what's going on at the moment. I just feel so different… I don't even know if I'm really me."

"Well, who are you then?" Martha said. She understood what she meant about feeling different, she looked different! But the last part she said had sacred her. She was confused and concerned about the way Rose was talking, but she was keeping an even tone so she didn't freak out again.

"Rose Tyler," she replied, a hollow look in her eyes. "The Bad Wolf."

"Bad Wolf?" she said in worry. She remembered all the times Rose had spoken of Bad Wolf. She had always sounded so worried.

"It's a part of me. I don't have to be scared anymore. Because it _is_ me. A part of me that is more than who I am."

"Is your head okay? You didn't hit it did you?" she tried unsuccessfully to laugh.

"No," Rose finally laughed. "I didn't hit it. It's just so… jumbled! There's so much in there, more than I'm used to. It's confusing."

Martha blinked when she looked Rose in the eyes. Was it just her imagination or had her eyes changed ever so slightly. Her eyes quite often varied in shades of hazel, even going brown sometimes. But now they seemed lighter… like they were flecked with gold.

Subconsciously Rose's hand drifted back up to her chest.

"Are you having heart trouble?" she pulled a stethoscope from around her neck.

"No!" Rose said too quickly, jumping back a little. Martha instantly knew she was lying.

"Rose, I should check…" she put them on and tried to put it over Rose's heart, but she batted it away. "Rose!"

"Martha, don't," she begged. "Please don't!"

"If there's something wrong I need to know." She tried a second time and yet again Rose dodged away. "God damn it, Rose!"

She struggled with Rose for a few minutes trying to reach the heart. They ended up nearly wrestling on her bed; Martha had her mostly pinned beneath her. She almost got close, but Rose pushed her at the last second and she missed. The stethoscope landed on the right side of the chest. It was only on there for a fraction of a moment but she heard it.

A heart beat.

On the right side of her chest there had been a heart beat. Both Rose and Martha seemed to have frozen in place where they were, still halfway through struggling. Rose looked up at her in panic and desperation. Martha looked back down in utter disbelief.

Slowly she placed the stethoscope back down on the right side of her chest and listened. She moved it across to the other to the other side. A second heart beat.

"Rose…" she breathed.

"You can't tell him," she whispered. "Please Martha, you can't tell him. Not yet."

Martha sat back and looked at her sternly.

"_Are you_ going to tell him?"

"I – I'll have to at some point. But – I can't. Right now I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because – what if I'm wrong? What if he hates me for it?"

"Rose, he couldn't hate you! He-" she paused on the verge of saying that he loved her. "He should know Rose. He may know what – what caused it."

"I know what caused it… I just don't know what I am." She sighed deeply. "I will tell him… Soon I guess… just, not yet. Let me figure out what's going on. Have you ever tried having a mind this big? I can barely make head or foot of anything. No wonder he's always ranting off or getting distracted." Martha smiled at her sadly. "I-I keep thinking this is a dream. A horrible, painful, scary, wonderful dream. It's brilliant, I mean, what if I tell him and…" she stopped just as a smile was coming to her face, the smile faded right away to be replaced with a look of pure anguish. "No, that's stupid. That's… I'm going to go get a good tea," she stated, tears welling in her eyes. "I just spent an hour screaming on the ground, I need something to relax me."

"Screaming…?" Martha said in a horrified whisper. Rose paused as she got up.

"Do you remember what it was like watching the Doctor change into a human… when he locked his Time Lord self in the watch?" Martha nodded silently, shivering at the memory. "I - I think I went through that…" she said quietly.

Then, with one last tired look back, Rose left her room. Leaving Martha stunned on her bed.

She couldn't believe what she had just seen, just felt. Rose had two hearts, like a Time Lord. It shouldn't have been possible; then again, she had seen the Doctor become human. And because he was no longer human, he would not admit that he did love her. Those two had far too many secrets from each other. And all because they were scared.

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><p><em><strong>Oooh… Now Martha knows all their secrets! Yeah, I can really just see Martha being the confidante and the one stuck in the middle of all the chaos. Kinda makes me feel sorry for her. Oh well, I feel like being evil!<strong>_


	53. A Change, Stories and Trust

**Stories and Trust**

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The Doctor hesitated at the Library door. He knew Rose had come in here.

Martha had come back from Rose's room, commenting that she was fine and just needed some time to calm down. But he could see concern in her eyes. It was more than that though; there was something she wasn't telling him

And Rose… she had looked so ill, on the verge of dying even. And she had collapsed and been unconscious for what… two hours?

And god, the way she had looked at him. She had been so afraid. And the way she had looked at everything else, like it was wrong.

So, he hesitated at the door, unsure of whether he should go in or not. What if she didn't want to see him? What if now, she was finally starting to see him for who he really was? A coward and a killer…

…No. Either way, if she wanted him or not, he had to know she was alright.

Finally, he pushed open the door and stepped in. Rose was sitting on the couch in front of the fire, drinking tea. She wasn't reading a book or anything, just relaxing. Her eyes were closed and there was the faintest smile on her face. She seemed slightly more at peace.

He walked slowly over to her, his hands in his pockets. When she heard him approach, she looked up. For a moment he feared he would see the same hurt, scared look in her eyes. But it was not so. The second she saw him her eyes lit up, there was only a ghost of the madness he had seen.

"Hi," she said softly, her smile growing.

"Hello," he said, smiling back a little. He stood there awkwardly. He hadn't been this hesitant around her in years – And he hated it.

"You um – you can sit down," she said sensing his reluctance. Smiling broadly he sat down next to her and she leant into him. "I'm sorry about before," she whispered. "I'd just woken up from a _horrible_ dream. It was-" she let out a long controlled breath. "I don't want to think about it. I just want to forget." He put his arms around her comfortingly and she leaned further into him. He hoped it wasn't – though he feared that it was – worse than her other nightmares.

Rose and the Doctor had gotten close before. They had sat practically on top of each other. They had held each other till neither of them could breathe. Yet, lying peacefully next to each other, they had never been this close… nor so distant.

He realised that she just needed someone to hold on to. Someone she cared about and trusted. Someone who could take her nightmares away.

"Are you feeling any better now?" he asked gently.

"Yeah. I just have to get used to-" she stopped herself midsentence. "Ugh, my head's a mess."

.

It really would take a while to get used to her new mind. It was so much bigger, with so much more room – Yet her head had never been so full. Fifty different thoughts – no exaggeration – were all trying to push their way to the front, and she was having a hard time concentrating.

Idly she wondered how the heck the Doctor coped.

She remembered watching him go through someone's memories, once. He had talked about doors, as if each memory was a room.

Having explored her new mind a bit, she had found that it actually was like that. And in her mind she had found a room that sparkled with a bright light and golden dust.

It was the room of the Bad Wolf.

Inside the light she could see shapes and shadows moving around. She knew it was images of time and space, living in her head. She had slammed the door shut before even a whisper could escape. She just didn't want to know.

One thing she had found was that she was smarter than she used to be. Not as smart as the Doctor of course. She wouldn't be able to spout off dozens of ideas in techno-babble of her own accord. But when he did, she would be able to understand it.

She also understood what had happened to her.

Long ago, back when she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, she had bonded with her… became a part of her. The Doctor may have taken the entire time vortex out of her, but there was no way he could have known about, let alone broken the bond. But he had been too late anyway. Like him, she was already dying. Knowing this, the TARDIS had sent some of the Huon particles back into her. It stabilised her and allowed her to live, counteracting its own effects, sort of like anti-venom.

And so the TARDIS grew within her. As the year went by the Huon particles had multiplied, but lain dormant… Until they activated inside Donna, and so too inside her. This had bought them back to life and started a change within her. The particles had attached to every cell in her body. Slowly mutating her DNA till she could no longer be recognised as human. And there they stayed, feeding off the time energy, gradually shaping her, and waiting until they were strong enough. Waiting for the right moment to change her completely… But into what she didn't know.

Her bond with the TARDIS had become stronger now. They were more in tune to each other. And when Rose had been lying on the floor screaming. The TARDIS had opened her heart to give her more Huon to make the process easier, and sung her into oblivion when she could take it no longer.

.

Another thing she had stumbled upon in her mind was a memory. Something her Mum had said to her not long before she went to the parallel universe.

They had been standing in the TARDIS while the Doctor set up something to capture one of the ghosts. Jackie had been saying that she was even starting to look like the Doctor. That she was just becoming too unfamiliar.

"_When I'm dead and buried, you wont have any reason to come back home,_" Jackie had said "_What happens then?_"

"_I don't know,_" she had replied quietly.

"_Do you think you'll ever settle down?_"

"_The Doctor never will, so I can't,_" she'd said nonchalantly. "_I'll just keep travelling._"

"_And you'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman – this strange woman… walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles form Earth. She's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human_…"

Thinking of that now made her shiver. Jackie hadn't realised when she spoke those words just how true they would come to be.

.

Managing to push her torrent of thoughts back down, she noticed that the Doctor was absent-mindedly stroking her arm. They were sitting together on the couch in comfortable silence. (Thankfully, she was in a position where he wouldn't be able to feel her hearts.)

It was strange seeing the Doctor so quiet and relaxed for so long. But this was nice. She liked it.

.

…Then she felt it coming on – The second phase of the change. It wouldn't be as bad as the first phase. She wouldn't be in pain. Her body would just shut down for a while in order to strengthen her body and mind. And to develop her full psychic and telepathic links.

She yawned and stretched a little in the Doctor's arms.

"You know," she sighed. "The funny thing about falling unconscious, it really takes it out of you. It makes no sense."

She felt her body sliding down, and the control of it slipping away from her. Her eyes drifted shut and she fell limp... But it was odd; she had thought that she was going to be unconscious again. But she could still hear and feel everything. She couldn't move a muscle though. It reminded her of when the Carrionite had paralyzed her. Only this felt more natural. And she was here in the Doctor's arms so she didn't mind as much.

She knew she was going to have to tell him. But she couldn't bring herself to do it… Not yet.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor looked down at Rose, asleep in his arms. She had fallen asleep pretty abruptly. But she wasn't well, so he thought no more of it. She looked so sweet and still, he didn't want to leave her. Rather than get up and reposition her on the couch, or carry her to her room, he gently lay her down further so she had his lap as a pillow.

A small smile tugged on his lips and he began to stroke her hair and caress her soft skin. He wondered what was up with her hair. He could swear it had grown quite a bit since he had left her a few hours ago, and strangely it no longer looked dyed. It was like the blonde was her natural colour. He placed a kiss to her temple, breathing in her scent that was a little bit vanilla and something that could only be described as 'Rose'. He normally had to resist doing this; he had to pretend he only saw her as a friend. It was so hard when she was so near to him every second. But he would rather have her closer than not. She was asleep, perhaps now he could show he loved her.

"Oh Rose…" he whispered. "If only I could actually tell you." he smiled tenderly at her. Perhaps he couldn't tell her he loved her… not out loud… not yet – or ever, but he could tell her other things.

"You know," he said to her. "I've never really told anyone, at least not anyone who already knew… I actually stole the TARDIS. I was arrogant and sometimes foolish in my first incarnation. But the one thing I've always never believed in was the way the Time Lords just sat back and did nothing while civilisations came to ruin when they didn't have to. One day, I interfered and they hunted me down. I managed to steal the TARDIS and flee. I was only meant to be borrowing her," he told her quickly. "But things just kind of… got out of hand."

.

The next thing he knew he was telling her everything. His life growing up on Gallifrey, and their house on Mount Cadon. Loosing his best friend and watching them become enemies. He told her about his children and grandchildren. His adventures he had in the TARDIS with one companion or the other. He told her everything.

"And then I met you…" he finally finished. "And well, you know the rest."

He knew she was asleep and that she couldn't hear him, but he wanted to tell her. And who knew, perhaps she was dreaming of it.

He wanted to carry on. He wanted to tell her how as they journeyed on together he had watched her blossom into a beautiful confident woman. He wanted to tell her that he was quite literally made for her. That as he had been regenerating, she had been so strongly in his mind that he had been made to fit her perfectly. His youth, his accent, his looks and hyper personality. The way their hands fit together as perfectly as the right pieces of a puzzle. He wanted to tell her the story of how he came to fall in love with the exquisite Rose Tyler… and he couldn't.

But there was one thing he could tell her. If he told her it would mean more than just 'I love you'. It would mean so much more… but she wouldn't know that.

But he could do it.

"I'm going to tell you something Rose," he whispered softly. "You can't tell anyone else. It's my secret. You – you don't quite understand what this means but – I want you to know."

Gently he brushed her hair away, leaned over and whispered in her ear. He thought that after so long it would be hard to say, but saying it to Rose just felt so right, so easy. For the first time in 900 years he uttered it.

He told Rose Tyler his name.

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><p><em><strong>Okay! So, what do you think. Only one more chapter till we're on to 'Utopia'. Really building up a lot of tension that probably won't be resolved for a frustrating few more chapters =D<strong>_

_**Like I said. I feel like being evil =D**_

_**I hope my scientificy explanation is alright. Never was good at science. I spent most of it reading Harry Potter. At one point my teacher threatened to burn the seventh book with the bunson burner! (It was the first day it was out, I didn't put the book down for a whole day).**_

_**Please Review!**_


	54. A Little Bit Different, Pinkless

_**And, here is the last one before we move on to 'Utopia'. This one just shows a few of the changes Rose has been going through now that the harsher part of the change is out of the way. It's a bit lighter than the last three chapters. I was aiming for a little comedy relief too.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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***A Little Bit Different***

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**Pinkless**

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Rose was still jumpy after the other day's events. He still had no idea what had made her pass out, and she refused to let him run tests. At times it still seemed like she was avoiding him and he would catch strange expressions on her face, like she was unsure.

He wanted more than anything to help her, but she wouldn't let him. And Martha wasn't helping by sticking up for her and making weak excuses. He would see her cast weary glances at the two of them.

If they didn't stop, it would drive him nuts.

And he already had enough to think about with the way they were acting without room for new developments. He could tell that not only were the girls hiding something, but the TARDIS was too. And this time he meant literally. He'd checked the monitor and it showed that the TARDIS was blocking something. She wouldn't let him know what.

But he had a very faint idea, because it wasn't entirely blocked out. There was something in his head, a presence at the back of his mind. He could feel something there that he hadn't felt in a very long time. A telepathic connection. And once he knew everything was okay with Rose, he assured himself that he would be dead bent on figuring out what it was.

He hadn't felt anything like this for a long time, not since… But that wasn't possible. Not just 'impossible', certainly not 'highly unlikely'. This was 'there was no possible way, even if I broke the laws of time' impossible. Because, this connection - though very clouded - was like that of the one he held with other Time Lords.

Though the presence was faint, it swirled through his mind, warming it and filling the empty space. It was scary how just that one other mind near his was able to fill the darkness. Having Rose with him had distracted him, and made him forget about the emptiness. But it had never really left… until now.

When he had first felt it he had frozen and very nearly fallen off the ladder on the bookshelves. He was worried if Martha would stay sane, what with both him and Rose acting strangely jumpy.

But first things first, Rose… then the being who had appeared from nowhere.

**?...DW…?**

"Doctor!" Rose's distressed cry echoed down the halls. It made him pause in an instant. "Doctor!"

In the next second he was sprinting to her room. "Rose!" he cried in panic as she cried out again. Suddenly he had to duck to avoid being hit in the head with a pink sneaker. "Rose, what's wrong?" he asked as a pair of jeans came flying at him too.

"I have nothing to wear!" she wailed, rifling through her closet and draws. He noticed with embarrassment that she was only wearing a bra and her underwear.

"Erm… what about all these?" he gestured to the huge pile of clothes that were blocking his path into her room.

"I don't like them anymore," she told him adamantly, sounding somewhat like a child.

"Um… but…?"

"I need a whole new wardrobe. I feel like wearing dresses."

"What about that one?" he said, nodding to the garment currently in her hand.

"It'll do for now," she sighed.

In an attempt to avoid staring at her barely clothed body - which was rather hard not to at least flick his eyes back up and it was very tempting - his eyes focused on her feet… one of the only covered parts of her. And he paused when he saw the red shoes. "Are those my Chucks?" he said.

"Yeah, they don't fit, but I don't have any of my own yet. I thought you wouldn't mind if I borrowed them for a day," she said distractedly, picking up a pink hairbrush and tossing it over her shoulder. The Doctor had to jump out of the way, narrowly avoiding the flying pink object.

It was then that he noticed that she had redecorated her room. The walls were now a soft aqua blue with black filigree designs running along the top of the wall. Wrought iron decorations like filigree dividers and chandeliers and candle holders made it look modern and rustic at the same time. There wasn't a shred of pink to be seen. Looking at his feet, he saw all her pink items littered amongst the jeans, hoddies and t-shirts.

"Right," he drew out the word. "And ah… where's the pink going?"

"Into a black hole," she told him casually as she changed into the dress. "I just realised that I hate pink."

Okay… hates pink… did - did he hear that right? Something was_ really_ wrong. "Rose, are you okay?" He jumped over the mess and placed a hand on her forehead. Despite the fact he was actually worried, he'd only meant it as a joke. He expected her to be the normal to degrees warmer than him, maybe a little hotter. But the temperature of her head matched his hand. "Hmm, you're a little cold," he told her.

Rose stilled and looked up at him. Most of the time their difference in body temperature was hardly noticeable. She forgot all about the fact that her temperature would be lower now. The other day she had been in front of the fire for a good while, so he hadn't noticed.

With a wrenching pang of her hearts, she realised that she was going to have to keep physical contact with the Doctor to a minimum. Cold hands and feet could be passed off as bad circulation… but the rest… Oh, and if he got to close to her chest, he was _bound_ to notice her double hearts!

So what? She couldn't let him touch her… she had to resist from nearly all contact with him…?

"So, it's a cardi with the dress, then," she said, starting to force the cheerfulness into her voice. "I'm going to go check the Wardrobe, see what I can find." She stepped over her discarded items before turning back to the Doctor. "Oh, and could you please find an un-devil-inhabited black hole? I wasn't joking about getting rid of this stuff." She grinned as she pointed to the mess, then dashed off, leaving a very concerned and bewildered looking Doctor standing alone in her room.

**?...DW…?**

"Crap, you have to help me!" Rose cried in frustration. There was a hum from the TARDIS and s small section of the wardrobe room lit up. She walked over to find an entire shelf - wardrobe more like - of converse sneakers in all colours and sizes. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Not quite what I meant, but thank you," she told the ship affectionately. "I just don't know how I'm going to hide this from him. He's not an idiot, far from it. He's going to figure it out long before I pluck up the courage to tell him." The TARDIS hummed reassuringly, telling her she would do all she could to help.

Rose sighed. "How hard could it be? All I have to do id walk up to him and say: 'Hey Doctor, remember how I absorbed the Time Vortex and you died taking it you of me? Well part of it was still there and it's been changing me for a while now, and now I'm not even human anymore. I'm a… what? Time Lord… Lady? I don't even know what the hell I am! Yeah, like that will go down well!" Another hum. Rose couldn't be bothered paying attention to it as it held so many different messages to it. All of reassurance, a bit of scolding in there somewhere too, she was sure. "Look, I know that he deserves to know… he deserves it more than anyone. But I can't, I just can't. Not yet."

The TARDIS gave a sympathetic hum, and Rose knew she would do all she could to help. It was one of the many reasons she loved the TARDIS.

.

Three hours later, Rose left the Wardrobe room with a trolley load of different styles and colours of dresses, tights and under-shorts. And some blue, aqua blue, black, green, camo, white, orange, silver, knee high, purple, and may other colours - excluding pink - of Chucks. All clothes that were pretty, but still practical for if she needed to run. she had everything she needed… Except for a solution.

She couldn't let him touch her, or he'd feel how cool she was now. She couldn't let him near her hearts - literally, not metaphorically for once. She was trying to block off the connection they had, with the help of the TARDIS. But she could still feel him there, in her mind. She would have to down play how smart she had become and try not to be surprised by the changes in her. And she would have to take something to her room to entertain herself at night. Because if the Doctor caught her wandering around, fully awake, at four in the morning again, he was _bound_ to become suspicious… well, even more so.

Rose sighed deeply. She knew, she just knew, that no matter how long it was going to take to tell him… things until then were going to be hard.

**?...DW…?**

Rose smiled as the TARDIS landed. They hadn't been to earth in a good few weeks and she was craving chips. A craving… that was a good sign. She had no idea how the change may have changed her taste buds. She knew that she still liked her tea, and toast. She no longer liked tomatoes. Perhaps the Doctor had been a bit of an influence on her, because she liked bananas a heck of a lot more than she used to. That and her suddenly extreme like of converse shoes.

It had only been two days since the change, and already a lot was different about her tastes. The fact that she was craving something she used to like had to be a good sign. She just hoped that it didn't taste too good. It would be rather embarrassing if she made the noise she had when she'd drunk her first tea.

Her senses were much stronger than they used to be - something she still wasn't used to yet. Her hearing was slightly better and she could hear things that that a human certainly wouldn't pick up, like the humming of certain energies. Her smell and sight were much the same. They were better than they had been, with extra qualities. When she thought of having advanced senses, she thought of vampires being able to hear, see and smell everything. This was nothing like that. Actually, that would probably drive her mad. No, this was so much better.

Unfortunately, taste was a different matter all together. Though she didn't understand why the oral fixation was a recent quirk of this regeneration for the Doctor - why he hadn't done it in his others, she did understand why he did it. If she had to pick her most strongest sense - not including her newly found sixth sense, 'mental' - she would pick taste. Everything was so much stronger. Each taste was like an explosion in her mouth. In each taste she could define exactly what it was made from, yet it all blended together perfectly. That first cup of tea she'd had in the library nearly drove her mad.

Since then she'd done a little experimenting, even being bold enough to lick the frame of a picture in the library. She could taste the metal - the exact type (Merithell - a strong, beautiful metal discovered on one the planets humans had inhabited. It was so similar in description to 'Methril' from the Lord of the Rings books, that the name had been derived from it.) - And the chemicals and ingredients used in the blue paint that decorated certain parts. And she could taste imprints of skin. The DNA was unmistakably Time Lord, and since it wasn't hers, it had to be the Doctors. He obviously picked up or moved this photo a lot. Perhaps he liked the picture of the two of them.

If she didn't learn to control it, or at least get used to it, she feared the Doctor may not be the only one aboard the TARDIS to develop an oral fixation.

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"Alright, London, Earth, 2007," the Doctor smiled. He picked up a few of the bags that were filled with the things Rose no longer wanted and headed to the door. Despite her argument of 'not wanting to inflict pain upon others', he'd managed to convince her to put them in a charity bin.

Martha and Rose followed suit behind him. He was almost weary of how well Martha was taking Rose's mood swings in stride. It was almost like she was expecting it. She definitely knew something he didn't.

The second Rose stepped out of the TARDIS she stopped dead in her tracks. The bags dropped from her hand and she gasped and stumbled, landing on the ground. She didn't really notice as the Doctor called her name in concern and moved to help her up. All she could do was feel. She was sure it shouldn't be this bad. It should hardy have been noticeable. It was probably just because she hadn't noticed it before, hadn't been _able_ to feel it.

The world had suddenly become unstable under her feet, like she was standing on a moving platform. She could feel the earth moving below her. Feel the tiny tremors of the tectonic plates, clashing together constantly a thousand miles below their feet. Feel the movement of the orbit and the spin of the earth. It wasn't perceptible to anyone else. She knew that only the Doctor could feel this.

After a few seconds she became almost used to the feeling. It didn't lessen, but it became less overwhelming.

"Rose, are you okay?" he asked her a second time.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said adamantly, bending back over to pick up the bags. "Don't know what came over me. Must have tripped."

"You're probably just tired," he told her. "See this is what happens when you're up till four or five in the morning. What did you get, about an hours sleep?"

"Yeah, something like that." He looked at her a moment before worry crossed his features again.

"It's not the nightmares again, is it?" he said in a low voice, rather close to her ear.

"No, no, they're gone," she lied. Unfortunately she still had that same horrid dream, just not as much any more. About only once a week. She tried not to shiver, remembering that part of the dream had been her screaming in agony. Her changing. She wondered what else from that dream would come true. "I just couldn't sleep," she told him, forcing her voice to be lighter. "Now come on, we're here for a reason. Let's get rid of theses and go have some fun."

.

Two hours later, they sat outside a café. The bags of her old things and been put into charity bins, and now she and Martha were surrounded by bags of new clothes they had gone shopping for.

Rose could hardly contain her near manic grin as she opened her newspaper wrapped chips. A bold black and white campaign jumped out at her, drawing her attention away from the delicious smelling golden morsels bundled inside.

"So, who's this Saxon guy?" she asked. It was obvious he was a politician, but she'd never heard of him before.

"Just a politician," Martha told her. "He's only been around for two years, so wouldn't know him. He's running for Prime Minister. He's good. I think I might vote for him. He's really-" She was cut off by an unexpected, alarming sound.

Rose couldn't help the moan that escaped her lips as she put the first chip in her mouth. It was absolutely exquisite!

She suddenly realised what she'd done and looked up at the Doctor and Martha. They were both staring at her with wide eyes, the Doctor looking slightly embarrassed. He tried not to blush thinking of all the times he'd dreamed of her making that sound, though usually it was because of something he'd done, not a chip.

"Calm down, Rose. It's just a chip," Martha laughed.

"Sorry," Rose said blushing furiously. "It's been a long time since I've had a chip this good."

"Thank god we didn't give you some chocolate cake," the Doctor recovered enough to tease her.

Rather than embarrassing her further, this seemed to grab her attention. "Chocolate cake!" she cried in delight, her head picking up.

The Doctor chuckled at her. Same old Rose Tyler, she may have changed her taste in clothes and colour, but she would never really change. He was fairly certain that she was alright. He still had to get to the bottom of the Bad Wolf problem, but until he could do that, he knew she would be okay. Perhaps now he could focus on that other problem. But he had to tell them. He just hoped he wasn't going insane.

"So," he said casually, drawing their attention. "I felt something rather strange yesterday," he told them. "And I hope I'm not going crazy here, because I'm not sure whether to be excited or afraid or what. And I hope you two don't mind going on wild goose chases, and I don't mean like the literal one we had on Hesaria. Because I really need to find this - this… this…" Words escaped him. He knew that the second the words left his mouth he was going to sound like a lunatic. There was no possible way it could be true.

"What is it, Doctor?" Rose asked. Her voice was soothing and comforting.

He looked up at her with sad, painful brown eyes. And then her life became a whole lot harder.

"I think I can feel another Time Lord."

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><p><em><strong>Whooo! Yay! Believe it or not, this is actually a good opening for Utopia… despite the fact I've got that set a month later. But with all the aimless hunting they will be doing, they're really going to need to stop off at Cardiff.<strong>_

_**LOL, foodgasim! Couldn't help myself. I reckon that taste would be the uber strong sense. So things would be a little over powering for a while. Also I seem to be bringing out the Doctor's rather 'manly' side lately. Hey! We all know he has those thoughts, he's just to dignified and stuck up to admit it to anyone, let alone himself!**_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoyed these! I'd love to hear what you though of them, so please review!**_


	55. Utopia, Should be Dead

_**Hey! Oh my gosh! I am loving all the reviews from the last few chapters! Thank you all so much! And yes, RachelPhobia, you got me, I AM a Time Lord (Shh, it's a secret though. It's just me and my cousin Yana left - seriously, her name IS Yana!).**_

_**So, I've had this one written for a while now too. But I thought that I would post it as a Birthday present for Lizzi (Oh-My-Sarah-Jane). Happy Birthday Sweetie!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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***Utopia***

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**Should be Dead**

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Rose could feel it as they landed on the rift. It was like there was a ripple across her skin. She had never felt it before… because before, she had only been human. There hadn't been the Bad Wolf, and there most certainly hadn't been two hearts.

It made her shiver being here. But it wasn't just the feel of the rift… it was the memories.

.

"Are you certain you feel something?" Rose asked the Doctor, trying to sway him from their earlier conversation. Well, actually the conversation was nearly a month old, but how else was she meant to sway him. The TARDIS was already doing all she could by misdirecting his sense of where the connection was coming from.

"Yes!" he said excitedly. "It's here, in the back of my mind. This presence. Only problem is I can't pin point where it is." It had been itching at the back of his head for about a month now. Every now and then he would get waves of emotions come through the link. He didn't know who it was, but he had to find them.

"And you're sure it's a Time Lord?"

"It's got to be… what else could it be?"

"But how could they have-"

"Escaped?" he cut her off. "I don't know, but remember what Boe said?"

"You are not alone. Right…" she said guiltily. She had a feeling that perhaps – though, she hardly dare think it true – the _Time Lord_ presence he sensed was her. She knew it was her he felt… but was she really a Time Lord?

"So where are we looking now?" Martha asked.

"Cardiff!" the Doctor said almost happily.

"Cardiff?" Martha said in confusion, a hint of distain in her voice.

"Ah," he started, "but the thing about Cardiff is that it's built on a rift in time and space. Just like California and the San Andreas Fault. The rift _bleeds_ energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."

"So it's a pit stop," Martha clarified happily.

"Exactly. It'll only take 20 seconds… The rift's been active," concern coloured his voice.

"Wait a minute," Martha's eyes narrowed in mock suspicion. "They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen," he grinned. He looked over at Rose, expecting to see her laughing at the memories. He was surprised to see that tears were brimming in her eyes. "Rose, are you okay?" he asked going over to her.

"Yeah," she nodded and wiped the unshed tears away. "Just – just so much has happened here. I mean, Gwyneth, Blon… And – and last time we were here, well that was the first time the heart of the TARDIS opened- And we still had Mickey and Jack…" She fell silent and hung her head. "Wh… what really happened to Jack?" she said. "I know you weren't telling me the truth when we left Satellite 5. He's-" she stopped and took a rattled breath. "He's dead isn't he?" she looked up to him again, but he couldn't look her in the eyes.

"Yes," he whispered. "He was shot by the Daleks just before you came back. I'm so sorry, Rose. I – I couldn't tell you. You had just nearly died, I had just regenerated and you still thought you'd lost me. I couldn't stand to tell you you'd just lost Jack too."

She nodded and he stepped forward and took her in an embrace. For a second she melted into the familiar comfort – but then suddenly she pulled back. She untangled herself from his arms and skittered back a few steps. He tried to hide the hurt form his face, but it was becoming harder every time she did this. She hadn't even hugged him in weeks. They would hold hands, but the last time they had been that close to each other was the day she had been sick. He wondered if she realised exactly how much it ripped his hearts to shreds… At least back then, when she let him hug her, he could still be close to her.

Selfish as it was, though he couldn't tell her that he loved her, or ever let it be, he didn't want her to move on. And that's what he feared she was doing.

"Sorry – I'm sorry," she stuttered, a blank fearful look on her face. He quickly slammed his mask back up and ignored the pain in his chest.

"Finito. All powered up," he said happily as if the last ten minutes hadn't happened. Suddenly a strange, horrible tingling sensation made his guts clench. It was alarmingly uncomfortable, a fixed point in time that shouldn't be. Unknown to him, Rose felt this too.

"Doctor!" Rose cried pointing to the monitor. "Oh my god, was that Jack?"

He looked at the screen as a man ran into sight again. His eyes widened in panic. It was indeed Jack. "Nope!" he said quickly. "Let's go!" before she could do anything, he had flicked all the switches and they began to dematerialise.

"Doctor, what are you doing? That was Jack!" Rose cried.

"Rose, Jack is dead!" he said firmly holding her by the shoulders.

Then just as they were about to disappear completely there was a crash and they all fell to the ground.

"What was that?" Martha cried clinging to the console.

The Doctor jumped up and put one foot up on the console to steady himself. He tried to look at the monitor but a shower of sparks fell down on him. Adjusting the screen he looked again. Rose looked at the screen too. She watched as the numbers changed and flew by… wait, those weren't numbers. The monitor never showed English. The numbers were in Gallifreyan, yet as they went by she knew the number. 10,000 – 50,000… the numbers flew by and she understood them.

"We're accelerating into the future!" the Doctor cried. "The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion? Fifty trillion? What?" his voice becoming more and more confused. "The year 100 trillion? That's impossible!"

"Why? What happens then?" Martha said.

For a moment all he could do was open and close his mouth, a look of incredulity on his face. "We're going to the end of the universe," he said. Then, with a final clank, they arrived. "Well, we've landed," he said after a moment.

"So, what's out there?" Rose asked him. She was still fairly angry and upset, but curiosity was winning over.

"I don't know," he told her.

"Say that again," she teased "That's rare." Martha laughed.

"Not even the Time Lords came this far," he said quietly, their joking lost on him. There was the tiniest hint of fear to his voice. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really… go." He looked at the two of them seriously… then his face broke out into a wide grin and the three of them raced to the door.

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They had landed in some distant, rocky wasteland. Rose shivered. It was a cold clear night, yet looking up she saw no stars.

"Oh my god!" Martha suddenly cried. She hit the Doctor on the arm and sprinted off to a body that was lying not too far away. Rose followed and covered her mouth in horror when she saw that the body was that of a man. And that man was Captain Jack Harkness. Tears ran down her face as she knelt down beside him. "I can't get a pulse," Martha said. "Hold on, you've got that medical kit thing."

She ran back into the TARDIS. Rose held onto the seemingly dead mans hand and sobbed quietly. For the fact that she was yet again losing a friend, and the Doctor had yet again lied to her. The Doctor walked up behind her, his face hard.

"Hello again," he said emotionlessly to Jack. "Oh, I'm sorry." He didn't look at Rose who was glaring at him with her tear streaked face.

"Here we go!" Martha shouted running back. "Out of the way," she pushed the Doctor to the side. "It's a bit odd, though," she said. "Not very 100 trillion, that coat's more like World War II."

"It is," Rose said brokenly. She shivered again. Something didn't feel right. It was almost like being this close to Jack repulsed her. But he didn't, she really cared for him. But something about him was just… wrong.

"I think he came with us," the Doctor said. There wasn't even a hint of sorrow in his voice. Rose looked up at him, appalled. She couldn't understand how he could be so horrible and cold about a man who had been his friend.

"How do you mean? From Earth?" Martha questioned, taking out her stethoscope.

"Must have been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS," he looked back at the blue box. "All the way through the time vortex. Well, that's very him."

"What? Do you know him?" she took off the stethoscope and looked at him incredulously.

"Friend of mine," he said. "Used to travel with us. Back in the old days."

"Friend!" Rose finally shrieked at him. "You left him! You saw him and you left him!"

Not wanting to see the man she loved so cold, she closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing the uneasy feeling away. The feeling that made her want to run away from Jack as fast she could. Because she wanted to hold him, to hear him say that things were going to just fine – even if they weren't. Jack had always made her feel better, especially when she had been upset when the Doctor would look right through her. She needed that now.

Martha looked at her in sympathy. "But he's… I'm sorry, there's no heart beat," she said softly. "There's nothing. He's dead."

Fresh tears fell from Rose's eyes. They had barely hit the ground when Jack gasped loudly and reached up, grabbing a hold of Martha. Both girls screamed and Rose skittered back. She looked at Jack, somewhat in horror. It wasn't just that he was suddenly alive again, but she had felt something. Just the second before he had gasped, she had felt a connection. A spark inside of her, recognising it's self. It was a spark inside her, which she now knew so well that she could at least turn on and off when ever she chose.

"Oh, so much for me!" Martha cried in alarm. "It's alright," she said to Jack. "Just breathe deep. I've got you now."

Jack calmed down a bit and his eyes fell on the woman holding him up. "Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced himself in his usual sexy manor. "And who are you?" he held her chin in a small caress.

"Martha Jones," she replied with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."

"Oh, don't start!" the Doctor cried.

"I was just saying hello!" Jack defended himself.

"I don't mind," Martha said helping him up. In the next second he was almost pushed back over as Rose hurled her tiny frame at him.

"Jack!" she cried giving him a bone crushing hug.

"Rose Tyler!" he said ecstatically, sweeping her off her feet and spinning her around. He put her back down and took a look at her. "Just as beautiful as the night I first saw you. Big Ben glowing in the firelight, remember?"

"What?" she said in deadpan shock.

"London Blitz," he clarified as if he were worried she'd forgotten.

"Yeah, course," she said. "Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. It's been happening a lot lately."

- But that had not been what had worried her.

'_Just as beautiful as the day I first saw you. Big Ben glowing in the firelight_'… Those had been the exact words the Face of Boe had said to her.

"That's alright," he said pulling her in for another hug. It was then that Rose felt it. Through the deep seated need to get away from him, she felt the power of the vortex. That spark she had felt, it had originally come from her.

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Suddenly before her eyes she saw floor 500 of Satellite 5. All around her the world was glowing gold. Her head was on fire, like it were being ripped apart. On the ground before her was the Doctor… her old Doctor, before he had regenerated.

"_Rose, you've done it,_" he shouted at her in his Northern accent, his voice drenched with fear. "_Now stop. Let it go!"_

"_How can I let go of this?"_ she had said. "_I bring life…"_ In her minds eye she saw a younger Jack he lay dead on the ground, slumped against the wall. She reversed his time and forced the life back into him. He sat up with a gasp. But the life kept flowing and flowing… she didn't know how to stop…

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Gasping she looked up at Jack in horror. He was immortal… and it was her fault.

"Oh, Jack! Jack, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she almost sobbed.

"Rose, I told you, it's fine."

"No, not that," she untangled herself from his arms. "Excuse me," she said.

Then in the next second she was striding over to the Doctor. She brought her hand around and hit him as hard as she could. His head snapped back at the force and slowly he turned back to look at her.

"I kinda deserve that one, I guess," he said quietly, rubbing his cheek.

"You're damn right, you deserve it!" she shouted angrily.

She scowled at him, but as he looked in her eyes he saw more than just anger. In her eyes he could see sorrow, betrayal, fear, and a little bit of desperation. He knew the slap had been for more than just Jack. And he could feel all this at the back of his mind. The emotions were so strong, they were pushing through… Since when had he been able to feel Rose's emotions as well?

"First," she yelled at him, "you just leave him there, alone! Then you tell me he's fixing Earth back up. You don't even talk about him for over a year! You let me be unsure about whether he really _is_ alive or not. Then you finally tell me he's dead! Oh, but not only that, you knew! You knew he was like this. You knew what I had… That this is-"

"It's not!" he cut her off. "Bad Wolf did this, not you."

"Stop talking about Bad Wolf as is she's someone else!" she cried. "Bad Wolf is a name I gave myself. I can remember, Doctor. Only parts, but I can remember. I can remember what I did to him. And don't say it wasn't me, because I can feel it around him."

"And why's that, Rose?" he snapped back. "Why can you remember what happened, hmm? Don't think I haven't seen, because I have. Tiny little moments when she comes back. Can you even remember them?"

"Yes!" she shouted. "Yes, I can remember. And clearly I remember a lot more than you can!"

These words felt like another slap. Painfully, he remembered when she had shown him their human life together. She would never know _just_ how much he longed for that.

"And that's why you've been scared for months, is it?" The pain of pushing the memory away making him sound more bitter than he intended.

This brought Rose up short. She had no answer for that, not one that she could tell him. Her face became pained and tears came to her eyes. Then, with a look that seemed more guilty than betrayed, she turned and stalked off. She sat on a rock not too far away. He knew she would be crying.

"Rose…" he called after her regretfully. He really hadn't meant to snap, especially when she was feeling so bad about herself. Another thing, he realised regretfully, is that had been exactly what he had said to her in her nightmares. It sent a shiver down his spine to think that they may be coming true. He realised that at least two had come to pass already. He dreaded to think that any more had. He made to go after her, but Martha stopped him.

"Just let her be," she told him. "I don't think she can handle anything else at the moment."

Sighing he turned back and nodded. He knew how on edge she'd been lately. How had he been _that_ stupid? He looked over at Jack and his regretful expression turned as cold as Jack's.

"Doctor," Jack said as coldly as his face looked.

"Captain."

"Good to see you," Jack said stiffly. The Doctor wasn't really sure how much he meant that.

"And you," he replied. "Same as ever… although… have you had work done?"

"You can talk!" Jack almost laughed. For a moment the Doctor looked confused, then he realised that last time Jack had seen him he had been baled and big eared.

"Oh yes, the face," he said. "Regeneration. How did you know it was me?"

"Well, firstly the Police box. But I think Rose screaming at you kind of gave it away." The Doctor hung his head at the reminder. "I've been following you for a long time," he went on. "You abandoned me."

"Did I? Busy life. Moving on." He looked back towards Rose, who was wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Guilt tugged at his hearts so much that it became painful. He had to fix this. "Look, sorry, Jack," he said. "I-I gotta…" He looked back at Rose and Jack nodded in understanding.

"Go," he sighed. Then he and Martha watched as the Doctor ran over to Rose.

.

For a few minutes they just watched as the Doctor crouched next to her and reached out to touch her. Rose flinched away, but eventually she let him catch her cheek in his hand. The two of them sat there talking. And Jack and Martha sighed and smiled slightly. Even though Jack's smile didn't last long.

"So, is he normally like this?" he asked Martha. She shook her head.

"Sorry, he's usually funny and hyperactive." He nodded in understanding.

"And with Rose? Do they always fight?"

"No. She says they get on better now then when they first met, with him now like this. But lately it's been a little tough for them. He turned human, couldn't remember being the Doctor – long story – but he told her that he loved her. When he was Time Lord again he said he couldn't remember being human. But he can. Rose is trying to pretend that it didn't happen. She's too scared he'll reject her. He's too scared to tell her he loves her, and she's too scared to tell him she's not human."

"I'm sorry what?" he cried in shock.

"Long story, don't ask. Ugh, and I'm stuck in the middle trying to convince the two of them to tell each other. It's so bloody frustrating! They're _so_ stubborn!"

"Yeah, tell me about it," he laughed. "So, they're even more in love then when I left. God, it was bad enough before!" Martha laughed.

"They're so cute they could make a box of puppies feel sick!"

"Doesn't it just make you want to bang their heads together!" he joked. One of the many things he had enjoyed about travelling in the TARDIS had been watching the Doctor and Rose. He had flirted with the two of them as much as possible. But he knew that they had fallen for each other.

He could see it now. They still loved each other, more so than ever. But they seemed so scared. And shit, Rose wasn't human… How the hell did that happen? He was going to have to talk to the both of them. They seemed so on edge. He hated seeing them this way around each other, just watching them from a distance he could see how close they usually were. This Doctor seemed a lot more touch feely than the last one. And he was already like that with Rose, so he could imagine how bad it was now… or well, had been.

He had to fix this. He'd tried a couple of times in the past. Perhaps he may have more of a chance now…

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><p><em><strong>Yep, a lota tension here. Don't worry. I think you will all like these next few chapters. Let's just say that Jack has a way with things. =D<strong>_


	56. Utopia, Hunted

**Hunted**

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"So there I was, stranded in the year 200,100, ankle-deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me.-" Jack was saying, but Rose cut him off.

"Wait, Dalek dust? …The Daleks were turned to dust? I did that… I turned the Daleks into dust!" she cried incredulously. She had always known that she'd erased the Emperor, but she had no idea she had done _that_.

"_You_ turned them into dust?" Jack cried, raising his eyebrows. "How did you do that? Millions of Daleks, reduced to dust by the fantastic Rose Tyler! Good Job!" He was grinning like the Cheshire cat, but when he saw the death glare the Doctor was shooting at him for saying that, it faded into confusion. How much _had_ the Doctor told Rose? "Anyway, I had this," he said changing the subject and showing Martha his Vortex Manipulator. "I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a Vortex Manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel."

Rose couldn't help but laugh at this. She knew how different a Vortex Manipulator was from the TARDIS.

"Oh, excuse me!" the Doctor scoffed. "_That_ is not time travel. It's more like I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper." His tone was that of a rich guy bragging over his luxury items.

Martha chortled. "Boys and their toys!" she cried.

"Alright, so I bounced. I though '21st century, best place to find the Doctor', except I got it a little wrong. I arrived in 1869 and this thing burnt out, so it was useless."

"Told you," the Doctor said quietly. Rose could help grinning, despite how mad she was with him at the moment.

"I had to live through the entire 20th century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me."

"That makes you more than a hundred years old!" Martha said. Rose grew grim at this. She hated that she'd done that to him.

"And looking good, don't you think?" he laughed it off. "So I went to the time rift, based myself thinking 'cause I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this, detecting you and here we are." He pointed to his bag when he spoke of detecting him.

As they had been walking, Rose had only been half listening. Ever since Jack had mentioned 'Dalek dust' she had been determined to find out exactly what she had done. She had been searching her mind, and finally she'd come across the memories. They were buried deep, hidden from her to protect her human mind. But she could handle it now…

"Oh my god!" she cried.

"What?" Jack asked her.

"I can remember it," she told them. "All of it!"

"All of what?" Jack persisted.

"Satellite 5!"

"All of it?" the Doctor asked nervously. "Even me taking it out of you?" Heck, what would she say to that?

"No, not that," she lied. "I say 'my head is killing me', then you say 'I think you need a Doctor'. The rest just kind of cuts off…" That was a lie too. She remembered everything from the moment she stepped through the doors of the TARDIS, to when she fell unconscious during the kiss.

"That sounds like a pick up line!" Jack laughed. He saw the Doctor blush. Okay, judging by the blush and his nervous over whether she remembered _all_ of it, he guessed that _something_ had happened. He decided to change the subject anyway. "And Rose, what's up with the hair? Don't get me wrong, I love you as a blonde… but I always thought it was dyed. That is not dyed."

"Ha! I wasn't imagining things!" the Doctor cried in delight. "What, did you get some of that natural, permanent dye on Jaraden?"

"I'm a natural blonde?" she cried in surprise reaching for her hair. She hadn't actually taken a close look at herself in the mirror since the change. She was a little scared of what she would see. She'd only caught glimpses and from afar she looked the same. But since Martha and The Doctor hadn't said she looked different, she assumed she hadn't changed. Then she realised too late that she'd been surprised. Now she couldn't use that perfect line the Doctor gave her to cover it up! "Huh… I don't know," she said. "All I can think of is… No, never mind, that wouldn't work."

"What?" the Doctor asked curiously. Darn, now she was stumped, she hadn't _actually _thought of anything.

"I said never mind," she tried to cover it up.

"What?" he persisted.

"Don't worry about it," she said starting to get annoyed.

"What?"

"I'm not telling you!"

"Oh, so another thing you won't tell me then?" he said in a dark, sulky tone.

"The Time Vortex!" she burst out. "Being the Bad Wolf! Are you happy now? The only thing I can think of that could change it would be Bad Wolf. But that's stupid because Bad Wolf can't change my appearance. It can't. It's not possible."

"It's your thoughts mixed with the Time Vortex. Almost anything is possible," he frowned. She had been acting rather odd lately. What if when she had gone Bad Wolf she had done something to herself…

"No it's not!" she shrieked. "Nothing about me has changed! I'm just normal Rose Tyler. I'm a normal human, just like I've always been! Nothing can bloody well change that!"

"Denial, much," Jack muttered quietly. Only Martha and Rose heard him. Martha giggled and Rose glared at him murderously. She wouldn't feel so bad about killing him considering he would come back!

The Doctor stiffened as he felt fear and annoyance filter through the telepathic connection. He still couldn't tell where this person was, but he was able to sense them better than further he was away from the TARDIS. It was rather strong right now.

"Okay, seriously! What, is this person following me?"

"What?" Jack said in confusion.

"For the last few weeks, he's been feeling the presence of another Time Lord," Martha sighed. She subtly pointed at Rose, and Jack grinned and rolled his eyes. Of course the fact that Rose was a Time Lord was highly unlikely, but there was every chance that she was now telepathic.

"Yeah, but something's not right," the Doctor wined. "I'm picking up on emotions, strong emotions. The only way I would be able to feel that, is if they didn't know how to shield their mind and if they were at least in the same country as me. That's what's been puzzling me. I shouldn't be able to feel that!

He couldn't stand not knowing anymore it was driving him mad! Putting all courtesy aside, he followed the connection and entered the mind. It was warm and somehow slightly familiar… but it was stranger than anything he had ever seen. And it was so mixed and jumbled, like who ever it was had been through many drastic changes in a short amount of time. He could feel that who ever it was, was a woman, and he could feel her double hearts pounding. But part of her mind was still blocked off. He went to dig a little deeper, to find a name. Then-

Before he could get any further, he was slammed back into reality. "She pushed me out!" he cried in surprise.

"Well, what do you expect when you just barge into someone's mind like that?" Rose said furiously. "No warning, no 'knock, knock' or 'hello'!" The Doctor was a little surprised by her reaction… then again, she wasn't all too happy with him right now. Rose was glad that he had been too disorientated by her mind to wonder about her reaction, or to see that as he had gone in and she had pushed him out, that she had stumbled and gasped. Jack was currently placing an arm around her back to keep her steady. Suddenly she felt him stiffen.

Shit, Martha hadn't been joking. Rose really wasn't human anymore. The two heartbeats beneath his arm proved that. But it wasn't just that she wasn't _human_. She was a Time Lord!

"Aww," the Doctor groaned dejectedly. "Come on, then."

They walked on until they came to the edge of a cliff. Spread out before them was a vast chasm. All though out it, it was connected by natural stone bridges, windows and doors were carved into the many cliff faces.

"Is that a city?" Martha breathed in awe.

"A city or a hive," the Doctor told her. "Or a nest. Or a conglomeration. Looks like it was grown. But look there," he pointed. "That's like pathways, roads… Must have been some sort of life… Long ago."

"What killed it?" Martha asked.

"Time," Rose answered in a quiet voice. "Time washes everything away eventually."

"Everything's dying now," the Doctor put in, just as quietly. "All the great civilizations have gone. This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."

They all looked up into the sky. "It must have an atmospheric shell," Rose murmured. "We should be frozen to death."

"Well, us three, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack," he gave the man a knowing look.

"What about the people?" Martha said sadly. "Does no one survive?"

"I suppose we have to hope life will find a way," the Doctor told her.

"Well, he's not doing too bad," Jack said brightly, pointing to a man who appeared to me running from a large mob.

They all watched in growing concern as the man ran for his life, the beings behind him crying wildly as they pursued him.

"Is it just me, or does that look like a _hunt_," the Doctor growled. "Come on!"

In the next few minutes they were running down the path of the hill towards the man.

"Oh, I've missed this!" Jack cried in delight. Soon they were with the man and Jack grabbed a hold of him. "I've got you!" Jack told him.

"We've got to run!" the man cried fearfully. "They're coming! They're coming!"

As the humanoid creatures got closer, Jack pulled out his revolver and aimed at them.

"Jack, don't you dare!" the Doctor yelled at him. Rather regretfully, after a second, Jack pointed the revolver to the sky and fired a few times. The creatures stopped in their tracks. They were able to see that these creatures looked fairly human, but were covered in decorative scars, tattoos and piercings. They also had large sharp fang like teeth.

"What the hell are they?" Martha cried.

"There's more of them. We've got to keep moving," was the man's only reply.

"I've got a ship near by," the Doctor told him. "It's safe. It's not far, it's just over there." he looked up at the ridge they had just been standing on to see more of the creatures run up to trap their escape. "Or maybe not."

"We're close to the Silo," the man told them. "If we get to the Silo, then we're safe."

"Silo?" the Doctor asked the others.

"Silo!" Jack said adamantly.

"Definitely, Silo," Rose agreed.

"Silo for me," Martha squeaked, raising her hand as she began to run. Then they turn-tailed and ran.

As they got closer to signs of civilisation, a large search light pointed at them.

"It's the Futurekind!" the man cried at them as they approached the gate. "Open the gate!"

"Show me your teeth!" the guard yelled at them a few times.

"Show them your teeth," the man told the four of them. He turned back to the guard and bared his teeth. The Doctor, Rose, Martha and Jack following his example.

"Human! Let them in! Let them in!" the guard cried. Quickly they opened the gates and the two human, two Time Lords and the one unknown (for who really knew if Jack was still human anymore) ran in. "Close!" the guard cried and the gates clashed shut as they hurried to lock it. But the Futurekind were too close so they left it open a little to shot at the ground before them.

"Humans," the leader of them hissed. "Humani. Make feast."

"Go back to where you came from," the guard told them, making it sound like a threat. Still the Futurekind didn't move. Instead the leader moved forwards slowly. "I said go back! Back!" he raised his gun higher to aim at the leader.

"Oh, don't tell him to put down his gun," Jack muttered.

"He's not my responsibility," the Doctor said.

"And I am?" he scoffed. "That makes a change."

"Not like that, you're-"

"He's my responsibility, then," Rose said coldly. "None of this would have happened if it weren't for me." And it wouldn't have. She would never regret bringing Jack back to life. But she had made him immortal. The TARDIS reacted against him. It was all her fault that they were in this mess.

"Rose-"

"No!" she cut the Doctor off. "See what it's like! God, Mum was right. I really am becoming you. Hiding things, blaming myself… You do that. You see how annoying it is. Only difference is that this really is my fault. I wanted him alive. And look how alive he bloody well is!"

The Doctor was speechless. He may have thought of something to say after the shock wore off, but it was then that the leader of the Futurekind chose to speak up. "Kind want you," he teased pointing towards her and Martha. "Kind hungry." The with a feral shout, he signalled the others to retreat. Slowly they all backed away.

"Thanks for that," the Doctor said to one of the guards.

"Alright, let's get you inside," the guard said as they began to walk away from the gate.

"My name is Padra Fet Shafe Cane," the man told him. "Please tell me, can you take me to Utopia?"

"Oh yes, Sir. Yes, I can," the guard replied. The Doctor and Rose gave each other a look. Utopia?

"It's a box," the Doctor tried explaining to Lieutenant Atillo for the fifth time. He wasn't having much success because everyone was cutting over top of him. "A big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there."

It seemed Padra was just a little louder. "I'm sorry, but my family were heading for the Silo. Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafe Cane. My brother's name is Beltone."

"All the computers are down, but you can check the paperwork," Atillo sighed. "Creet! Passenger needs help."

A small boy of eight or nine poked his head around the corner and walked out with a clipboard. "Right, what do you need?" he asked in a cute official sounding Scottish accent. It was strange that such strong accents had survived the merging of so many cultures for trillions of years. Rose smiled as she watched the little boy act so business like.

"A blue box, you said?" Atillo asked the Doctor.

"Big, tall, wooden. Says 'Police'."

"We're driving out for the last water collection. I'll see what I can do," Atillo told him before walking off.

"Thank you," the doctor said to him sincerely.

"Come on," Creet's voice distracted them. He led Padra away and they all decided to follow.

"Sorry, but how old are you?" Martha asked.

"Old enough to work," he replied. "This way." He led them through corridors lined with people camping out and seeking shelter and solace. "Kistane Shafe Cane," he called out. "Kistane Shafe Cane. Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane? Looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane."

"The Shafe Cane's anyone?" Padra called. He and Creet continued to call as they moved along.

"It's like a refugee camp," Martha said sorrowfully.

"It's _stinking_!" Jack cried. "Oh, sorry. No offence. Not you," he said when a man gave him an angry look.

"Don't you see though?" the Doctor said excitedly. "The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas and then another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans. End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word! Indomitable! Ha!"

"Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane," Creet still called.

"That's me," a woman said standing up. She gasped when she laid eyes on Padra.

"Mother!" Padra cried.

"Oh my god, Padra!" she gasped. In the next few seconds he was running to embrace his family.

"It's not all bad news," Martha grinned. Rose grinned with her, but she couldn't help but feel a little sad. She wished she could have that kind of reunion with her mother. She missed her so much. God, what would she say if she knew what had happened to her?

"Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?" Jack said flirtatiously as he shook the hand of a rather good looking man they had passed.

"Stop it," the Doctor warned as he tried to sonic a door. "Give me a hand with this." They moved over to him. "It's half deadlocked, see if you can overwrite the code." They soon had it unlocked with the combination of the sonic and Jacks hacking skills. "Let's find out where we are." He swung open the door and stepped forward… almost falling down into a large empty space. The floor at their feet had dropped away to make space. Both Jack and Rose lunged for him, pulling him up before he could fall.

"Gotcha," Jack assured him

"Thanks," the Doctor said. He was rather surprised when Rose grabbed him in a quick hug. It was quick and desperate, it was hardly the usual 'Yay, you're not dead' hug. But he knew she cared as for those few brief seconds she tried her hardest to crush his ribcage. It felt nice having her arms around him again.

"How did you cope without me?" Jack joked.

"I had Rose," he grinned in reply.

"Now _that_ is what I call a rocket!" Martha exclaimed, her eyes bulging as she looked at the enormous rocket that stood through the centre of the Silo before them.

"They're not just refugees, they're passengers," the Doctor murmured.

"He said they were going to Utopia," Rose said. Utopia: an imagined or indefinitely remote place of ideal perfection.

"The perfect place. 100 trillion years, it's still the same old dream," he sighed. "Do you recognise those engines?" he asked Jack curiously.

"Nope," Jack told him. "What ever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot though."

"Boiling," the Doctor agreed.

"Boiling!" Rose cried incredulously, fanning herself. "That's a bit of an understatement." Even though her external temperature was only a few degrees cooler than normal, she felt the temperature change much more. She found herself longing to be back on the TARDIS where the temperature was regulated to suit her - well, the Doctor's - preference. Obviously the Doctor was used to how certain temperatures felt against his skin. But for her it was still such a shock to find how blistering hot a simple cup of tea was. Idly she wondered how hot it would have used to seem to her.

"But," the Doctor carried on, not hearing her as he closed the door behind him, "if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?"

They were interrupted as a small white haired man in a waistcoat - who rather reminded Rose as a human version of the White Rabbit - appeared beside them. He looked back and forth between Jack and the Doctor, before settling on Jack.

"The Doctor?" he asked.

"That's me," the Doctor said as Jack pointed to him.

"Good!" the old man exclaimed excitedly. The grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off. The others followed smiling through their confusion. "Good! Good! Good! Good, good, good! Good!"

"It's good apparently," the Doctor squeaked in amusement as he turned back to them on the run. Rose couldn't help but laugh.


	57. Utopia, Not Gonna Fly

**Not Gonna Fly**

.

.

"Chan - Welcome - Tho," said a blue insect like woman as they entered some sort of lab.

"This is the gravitissimal accelerator," the man - who was obviously a professor - said excitedly, showing the Doctor some sort of system. "It's a bit past its best, but it works."

"Chan - Welcome - Tho," the insect woman said again to Rose, Martha and Jack.

"And over here is the Footprint impellor system. Do you know anything about end-time gravity mechanics?" the Professor continued, leading the Doctor around the room.

"Hello," Rose said to the insect. "Who are you?"

"Chan - Chantho - Tho," she replied, speaking in an odd way that put a sentence in the middle of her name.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said flirtatiously, holding his hand out to her.

"Stop it," the Doctor growled, interrupting the old man. He had put his brainy specs on, and despite the fact she still wasn't happy with him, Rose's hearts stuttered and bet a little faster.

"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack complained.

"Chan - I do not protest - Tho," Chantho said shyly.

"Maybe later, Blue," Jack winked at her before heading over to where the Doctor was. "So what have we got here?"

As he passed by her, Rose heard a strange bubbling, tinkling noise coming from his backpack. Looking at Martha's curious face she knew that she had heard something too. But she had a feeling that only she had heard the tinkling, it was the same as one of the new energy sounds she had started hearing. She heard this one often, though never quite so loud. Curiously, she and Martha followed.

Jack detoured and dumped the bag down in a sort of sitting area and then went to join the Doctor. Rose and Martha stayed with the bag.

"And all this feeds into the Rocket?" the Doctor was asking.

"Yes, except without a stable Footprint we'll never achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonise the five impact patterns and unify them, well we might yet make it. What so you think, Doctor?" he asked. "Any ideas?"

"Well, um, basically…" he stuttered. "Sort of… Not a clue."

The Professor's face fell. "Nothing?" he said in surprise.

"I'm not from around these parts," the Doctor told him. "I've never seen a system like it. Sorry."

"No, No. I'm sorry," he said dejectedly. "It's my fault. There's been so little help."

.

Over in the sitting area Rose and Martha managed to quietly zip open Jack's bag and peer inside. Rose almost felt sick at what she saw. A hand, floating in clear liquid inside a large jar, bubbling softly.

"Oh my god!" Martha cried in surprise and disgust, pulling it from the bag and setting it on the table."

Seeing it in better detail, a few pieces click together in Rose's brain. The hand looked familiar, it was tainted with a certain energy that she related to time travel, and Jack had said 'Doctor detector'. "No way! That's…"

"You've got a hand in a jar," Martha said in shock to Jack as he had the others came over. "A hand, in a jar, in your bag!"

"Doctor, that's-" Rose started, but was cut off by his stuttering as he came to the exact same conclusion.

"That - that's my hand!" he cried sitting on the chair to look at it.

"I said I had a Doctor Detector," Jack said nonchalantly, as if it were normal to walk around with a severed limb.

"Chan - Is this a tradition amongst your people? - Tho," Chantho asked nervously.

"Not on my street!" Martha cried. Then she rounded on the Doctor. "What do you mean 'that's your hand'? You've got both your hands, I can see them!"

"Long story," he told her. "I lost my hand Christmas Day. In a swordfight." Rose winced at the memory.

"What? And you _grew _another hand?" she said sarcastically.

"Uh-huh," Rose nodded weakly at the same time as the Doctor answered.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I did, yeah." Martha's face fell. "Hello." He grinned and waved at her, wigging the fingers of the hand that had re-grown.

"Might I ask, what species are you?" the Professor said.

"Time Lord. Last of," the Doctor said. He didn't notice Rose shift uncomfortably or Jack and Martha's eyes flick to her. "Heard of them? Legend or anything?" They looked at him blankly. "Not even a myth?" More blank looks. "Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."

"Chan - It is said that I am the last of my species too - Tho.

"Sorry, what was your name?" the Doctor asked, having missed it the first time.

"My assistant and good friend, Chantho," the Professor introduced her. "A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Melcassairo, before we took refuge."

"The city outside, that was yours?" he said solemnly. Rose could see the familiar spark in his eyes that meant that he was thinking of Gallifrey. Probably wishing that he still at least had something left to _look_ at.

Chantho nodded. "Chan - The conglomeration died - Tho."

"Conglomeration!" the Doctor cried happily, his solemnity forgotten in his excitement about being right. "That's what I said!"

"You're supposed to say sorry," Jack told him with a hint of exasperation to the scolding.

"Oh, yes," he said, then he leant forward and his voice became low and serious. "Sorry."

"Chan - Most grateful - Tho."

"You grew another hand?" Martha said, still in shock.

"Hello again," he waved at her again.

"Trust me, the thought isn't half as bad as actually seeing it happen right in front of you," Rose assured her. "Sorta crept me out for a while."

"Still held it though," the Doctor said cheekily, before he stood and turned to Martha. "It's fine. Look, really, it's me." He wiggled his fingers again before shaking her hand. It reminded Rose a little of when he had wiggled his fingers before she took his hand that fateful Christmas.

"All this time and you're still full of surprises," Martha laughed nervously.

"You have no idea," Rose grinned. The Doctor winked and clicked his tongue.

"Chan- You are most unusual - tho," Chantho laughed.

"Well…" the Doctor agreed, grinned smugly.

"So what about those things outside?" Jack asked. "The Beastie Boys. What are they?"

"We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself, but uh… it is feared they are what we will become. Unless we reach Utopia."

"And Utopia is…?" the Doctor fished.

"Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?"

"Bit of a hermit," the Doctor shrugged.

"A hermit… with friends?" the Professor said, a little confused.

"Hermits United," he said. "We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun… for a hermit." The old Professor looked rather baffled. "So, um, Utopia?"

At this the Professor crooked his finger and led them to a computer. They left behind the creepy bubbling hand and followed.

They looked at the screen that showed the Gravitational Field Navigation System - which rather reminded Rose of a paua shell pattern. A small red dot blipped up in one of the corners.

"The call came from across the stars, over and over again," the Professor told them almost dreamily. "_Come to Utopia_. Originated from that point."

"Where is that?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, beyond the Condensate Wilderness. Out towards the Wildlands and the Dark matter Reefs. Calling us in. The last of the humans, scattered across the night.

"What do you think is out there?"

"I don't know," the old man replied. "A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not… But it's worth a look, don't you think?" Rose could almost see that same adventurous twinkle in the man's eyes that the Doctor got. She smiled at the sweet old man.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor grinned ecstatically. "And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not on automatic. That's a good sign. Someone's out there. And that's… ooh, that's a navigation matrix, isn't it? So you can fly without the stars to guide you." his eyes flicked up to the Professor when he got no reply. The old man had his eyes shut tight and he was breathing heavily, as if struggling for breath. "Professor?" he said in concern. "Professor? Professor!"

"I - Right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave. Thank you," he said brashly, once he had snapped out of it. He walked off in the other direction.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor said half concerned, half suspicious.

"Yes. I'm fine! And busy!"

"Except… that rocket's not going to fly, is it?" he said quietly. The Professor and Chantho looked at each other forlornly. "This Footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."

"We'll find a way!" the Professor cried in frustration.

"You're stuck on this planet," he stated. "And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're gonna fly."

"Well, it's better to let them live in hope," he said quietly as he fell into a chair.

"Quite right, too!" the Doctor cried picking up the mood. "And I must say, Professor… Um, what was it?" he asked, taking his jacket off and passing it to Jack.

"Yana."

"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me," he said coming to stand before him. "But, all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So I wonder what would happen if I did this?" He picked up the boost reversal circuit and used the sonic-screwdriver to give them power. Suddenly sirens went off as the boost powered up and Chantho grinned as Yana looked happily surprised.

"Chan - It's working! - Tho," she cried.

"But how did you do that?" Yana asked, flabbergasted.

"Oh, we've been chatting away. I forgot to tell you, I'm brilliant!" he grinned.

**?...DW…?**

Soon they were working flat tack as they prepared the Footprint and other controls for launch. An announcement came over telling people to prepare for boarding. And with the Doctor's help and instruction, they were nearly ready.

Chantho and Martha were sent off to collect some necessary items, leaving just Rose, Jack, and the Doctor who was talking to Yana about how brilliant he was, considering he had made they system out of food. He had lost his glasses somewhere during the conversation.

"So, Jack said quietly, coming up behind Rose. "Two hearts, huh?"

"What?" she cried rounding on him in surprise before realizing she'd nearly blown her cover. Jack didn't know. Time to cover it up. "What are you talking about? The Doctor?"

"Don't play daft, Rose," he told her in a low voice, trying not to be overheard. "Martha told me you've changed and I felt them when I was holding you up."

"Oh."

"You going to tell him?" he asked.

"Yeah," she told him, her voice too high. He gave her a look. "I _will_. After all this is over. I was working on picking up the courage to tell him today, but then…"

"I came," he finished. "Wow… So, our Rose is a Time Lord," he sighed running a hand through his hair. "How did that happen?"

"Do you really want me to tell you?" she laughed. "I could probably techno-babble as good as the Doctor on this."

"Oh dear," he laughed with her.

"Thing is, I don't even know if I really _am_ a Time Lord, or just something similar. I mean, will I regenerate? I… I want to tell him now, but now isn't exactly the best time. It's a mess. I'm gonna tell him when things are nice and clam again… before he drags us halfway around the universe looking for something that's right in front of him again."

"So what _did_ happen?"

"When I took in the Time Vortex, I would have died if the TARDIS hadn't kept a little bit of herself inside me. This energy, the Huon Particles, they attached to my DNA and feed off the energy from the Time Vortex until it was strong enough to change me."

"Wait, that sounds like cellular reprogramming, doesn't that-"

"Hurt a lot? Yeah," she finished for him.

"Rose," he cried in horror. "That's every cell of your DNA changing. That's not just 'hurt a lot', that's pure agony!"

"I know, Jack! It happened to me, remember."

"Sorry," he muttered.

"I'm scared to tell him," she murmured. "I want to, but I'm too scared. I mean, there's not exactly a gentle way of doing it is there? And I have to tell him. It's not fair on him, he has the right to know. And there are things that I want to know that only he can tell me. And it is _so_ hard trying to stay away. Trying to make sure that he doesn't notice that my skin is cooler, or that I barely sleep, or that I have two hearts. I can't do this anymore. I have to tell him… just not here."

"Good for you," Jack grinned.

"J-Jack? If… something happens… could I stay with you?"

"Rose! You know he would never leave you!" he gasped, surprised that she thought the Doctor would ever consider it.

"I know how he thinks, Jack," she argued. "Even if he does accept me, I don't want to travel with him just because he thinks I'm his responsibility… Not that I'd want to leave anyway, but still."

Jack was stunned into silence. Rose seemed so beautiful and confident, could she really have that little faith in herself that she would think the Doctor would doubt her?

"Professor," Atillo's voice came from over the intercom. "Tell the Doctor we've found his blue box."

"Ah!" the Doctor cried happily. Rose grinned and hugged Jack - much to the Doctor's envy.

"Doctor," Jack called them over so they could see the TARDIS on the screen.

"Professor," the Doctor smiled. "It's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out." Then he slapped Yana on the shoulder and ran to his beloved machine. Leaving the man staring at the blue box in wonder and curiosity. His brow was crumpled together, as if trying to remember something he had forgotten long ago…

.

.

.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Jack plan, phase one - complete. Don't worry, still two more phases. 1 of 3. For someone who doesn't really have much sense of his own, he is very good at knocking it into other people.<strong>_

_**Happy New Year everyone!**_


	58. Utopia, Drums

**Drums**

.

.

After moving the TARDIS into the lab, the Doctor ran inside and dug out some cables to link the TARDIS to the Footprint mechanism.

"Extra power," he stated plugging the cable into an outlet. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting. Jack, you're in charge of the retro-feeds."

At that moment, the doors slid open and Martha and Chantho walked through with a few armfuls. "Oh, am I glad to see that thing!" Martha cried when she laid eyes on the TARDIS.

"Chan - Professor, are you alright? - Tho," Chantho asked in concern. Yana was sitting on a chair with his eyes closed. He opened them and looked at her in fond exasperation, Rose could also see a little bit of pain and the slightest bit of madness in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine," he told his colleague. When she didn't move he spoke a little more strongly. "I'm fine. Just get on with it."

Rose ignored Jack who was snapping orders to Martha and walked over to sit beside the poor man. She grabbed his hand in hers.

"Goodness, my dear, your hands are so cold," he gasped quietly.

"I'm alright, it's normal," she assured him. "What about you, are you _sure_ you're alright?"

"You don't have to keep working. We can handle it," the Doctor said kindly, hearing the last part and coming over to kneel beside them.

"It's just a headache. Just - just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head."

"What sort of noise?" he asked.

"It's the sound of drums," he replied. "More and more, as though it's getting closer." Rose's brow creased at this. Drums, drums, drums. The never ending drums. She had heard them too. The first time, after she had been hit by lighting, then on and off when she was deathly tired… every painful night she had had that nightmare… And for the painful, agonising hour that she had changed. The drums scared her.

"When did they start?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, I've had it all my life." Rose rubbed circles on his hand. It would be maddening listening to that forever. "Every waking hour… Still, no rest for the wicked." With that he smiled at the both of them and, withdrawing his hand from hers, stood and left. They stayed as they were a moment longer before moving themselves. The doctor still had a small smile on his face. She could see the fondness in his eyes. It was amazing how fast he had come to care for the man. He had the look of someone who was seeing a long lost friend. It was so sweet that it made her smile even more. Oh, she loved him.

.

"Professor?" Atillo called over the com. They heard a mutter and the screen flared to life to show the Lieutenant. "Professor, are you getting me?"

"I'm here," the elderly man cried down the line. "We're ready. Now all you need to do is connect the couplings. Then we can launch." The screen flickered and the connection with Atillo was lost. "Ugh! Save us, this equipment! Needs rebooting all the time!"

"Anything I can do?" Rose asked in an attempt to keep her distance form the Doctor for a while longer before she told him. "I've finished that lot."

"Yes if you could." He gave his seat up to her. "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes out."

"Got it. Just don't ask me to do shorthand," she joked. Judging by the look he gave her, she doubted it even existed anymore. But he still laughed anyway, figuring it was something tricky.

"Are you still there?" Atillo asked as he flickered back to life.

"Ah, present and correct," Yana said. "Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here."

They watched as a man in a hazmat suit entered the red room with the couplings. "He's inside. And good luck to him," Atillo said.

"Captain, keep the levels below the red," Yana ordered Jack, walking over to him.

"Where is that room?" the Doctor asked curiously, his glasses back on.

"It's underneath the rocket," Yana said as they walked around, closer to the screen. "Fix the couplings and the Footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."

"Stet?" the Doctor said. "Never heard of it."

"You wouldn't want to," the Professor told him in a low voice. "But it's safe enough. We can hold back the radiation from here." They watched on the monitor as the man worked on the couplings. They could also see, from a second camera, Atillo watching through a window from outside the room. An alarm started and the Professor started to panic. "It's rising, 0.2. Keep it level!" he commanded Jack.

"Yes, Sir!" the American replied. The alarm stopped and they watched as the man moved on to the second coupling. Suddenly a different alarm went off and there was a rumbling sound.

"Chan - We're losing power! - Tho." There was a loud explosion from somewhere in the Silo and the screen went out a moment. Then everything became chaos.

"Radiation's rising!" the Doctor called.

"We've lost control!" Jack shouted back.

"The chamber's going to flood!" Yana told them.

"Jack! Override the vents!" the Doctor ordered. Over the half working com system, they could hear Atillo yelling at the man in the chamber. Rose could see that he was still trying to get the couplings into place (everyone else was working like mad to stabilize everything). But she cried out when she saw that Jack had pulled out two live wires.

"We can jumpstart the override!" he said.

"Don't! It's going to flare!" the Doctor shouted. But he was too late. Jack pressed the ends of the cables together and he screamed as the power coursed through him. Smoking slightly, he fell dead to the floor.

"Jack!" Rose cried, not hearing the cries of Atillo as the man in the chamber disintegrated. She ran and knelt at Jack's side. She knew what would happen, but still it scared her. Yet even now, she could feel, through her link with the Bad Wolf, the life flowing back into him. His sprit being dragged back.

"I've got him," Martha said rushing to his side too. Instantly the doctor in her flared to life.

"Chan – Don't touch the cables – Tho," Chantho cried pushing them out of the way. Yana walked over to them, sadness written across his face. The Doctor just stood behind them all, far away from Jack and completely undisturbed by what had happened. At least this time Rose knew why.

She was shaking just being this close to him. Her link with him and the feeling of him being wrong sending tremors through her body. It was all she could do to stay at his side. She pushed the emotions from her head, willing them to go anywhere but stay with her.

Even though he seemed aloof about Jack, Rose could see the discomfort in the Doctor's eyes. He felt it too, the wrongness of what she had done to him. But he seemed at peace until his eyes fell on her. Seeing her shake like that, a tiny hint of gold in her eyes, he looked at her in concern.

God if this did anything to Rose he would…

"Oh, I am so sorry," Yana said. Martha wasn't sure whether he was saying it to Jack or to them.

"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" the Doctor asked casually. He was still peering cautiously at Rose when she wasn't looking. He tried to ignore the fact that the unease around Jack had doubled. And strangely the extra emotion was coming through the link he had made with the unknown Time Lady… or whatever she was. Almost as if she was forcing her thoughts on to him.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start," Yana sighed. "It was all for nothing!"

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor said. He walked forward to where they had all gathered.

Not finding a pulse or breath, Martha began mouth to mouth on Jack.

"Martha, leave him," Rose said gently. "That wont help… other than the fact he'd probably enjoy it."

"You've got to let my try!" she almost sobbed as the Doctor gently pulled her up.

"Come on, Come on," he said to her. "Listen to me. Just leave him." He turned to Yana. "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room a man can't enter without dying. Is that correct?"

"Yes," the Professor nodded.

"Well…" On the ground, Jack let out a huge gasp, starting Martha and everyone else except for him and Rose. "I've got just the man," he finished, whipping off his brainy specs in a move that nearly made Rose swoon.

Jack lay on the ground with a somewhat dazed expression. He was still panting and Rose grinned at him, just happy he was okay. In confusion he felt his lips.

"Was someone kissing me?" he asked through his gasps. Martha let out an incredulous laugh and Yana and Chantho just stared in shock.

"Right, we got a plan," the Doctor said. "Come on, Jack." Rose helped him to his feet, trying not to let her hand shake too much. But she could already feel the unease of the Bad Wolf bond lessening.

"You, a _plan!_" he said in shock. "Does he _plan_ things now?"

"First I've ever heard of it," Rose grinned.

"Okay, okay," the Doctor said hiding his own smile. "Jack, let's go." Then the two of them rushed out the door.

**?...DW…?**

They ran down to the control room. Atillo was sitting at the panel, his head in his hands.

"Lieutenant, get onboard the rocket!" the Doctor said. "I promise you're going to fly."

"The chamber's flooded!" Atillo protested.

"Trust me. We've found a way of tripping the system… Run!" Nodding Atillo quickly got up and ran out the door. The Doctor looked over to see Jack removing one of his shirts. "Wh-what are you taking your clothes off for?"

"I'm going in," Jack told him.

"Yeah, but, I'd say that stet radiation doesn't effect clothing, only flesh!"

"I look good though," Jack grinned. The Doctor couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Could I borrow you sonic-screwdriver a second?"

Slightly confused and rather cautious, the Doctor handed it over. Jack pointed it at the control panel and it turned off.

"Did you just turn that off? Why? How are we supposed to talk to the others?" he said.

"Don't worry, Doctor. You can turn it on later. I just didn't want Rose to know if this does anything to me."

"It won't do anything to _you_, Jack."

"I know. But, I saw the way you were looking at her when I woke up. You were scared."

"Yes… Yes I was sacred. I think she can feel it," he said in a strained voice. "She can feel you coming back… Her eyes were gold…"

Jack looked at him in confusion, but didn't press any further. He walked to the door and paused. "Doctor, how long have you known?"

"Ever since I ran away from you," he told him. "Good luck." And with that, Jack entered the deadly room.

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><p><em><strong>Sorry this is so short. The dividing wasn't working right. But don't worry, the next chapter is extra long and EXTRA good. You will not be disappointed… I hope.<strong>_


	59. Utopia, Sneaky Jack

_**The long awaited chapter! Welcome to Jack plan, phase two!**_

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><p>.<p>

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**Sneaky Jack**

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"What? What is he talking about?" Rose said looking at the computer screen as it flicked back to life. "It's not off, we can hear them. We can see them!" She leant over the speaker. "Hello, Doctor, can you hear me?"

Clearly he couldn't because he continued talking to Jack. Martha gasped in realisation. Jack had made it seem as if it had been turned off on his end, and blocked the sound from coming through. So she and Rose could hear and see everything they said and did, but the Doctor wouldn't even know it was on. Oh, he was clever!

"Doctor!" Rose tried again.

"Rose," she said. "Just shush and listen!" Rose complied and they just caught the end of the conversation as the Doctor told Jack that he was scared…

"Doctor, how long have you known?"

"Ever since I ran away from you," the Doctor replied. "Good luck." Then Jack walked into the deadly room. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, but Jack remained alive.

"But he should evaporate!" Yana said aghast. "What kind of man is he?"

"One who's going to live for a very, very long time," Rose whispered regretfully. She couldn't believe she had done that to him. And she was, at this moment, convinced that he was the Face of Boe. She didn't know how he would go from being what he is, to that. But at least she drew some comfort from the fact that one day he would eventually die, surrounded by friends. "Believe me I know," she said. "He used to travel with me and the Doctor before we left him behind in 200,100."

"200,100!" Yana said in confusion.

"Yeah, the Doctor travels through time and space. Some times he picks people up for the company. Rose has been with him three years now… Don't see him letting her leave anytime soon," Martha grinned.

"He travels in time?" Yana gasped. He looked around distractedly.

"Don't ask me to explain it," Martha went on. She pointed over her shoulder. "That's a TARDIS. The sports car of time travel, he says." Yana walked over to it, a very far away look on his face. Rose however, remained with her head glued to the screen. She could see both inside the room where Jack was working on the couplings. And outside, where the Doctor stood, talking to Jack.

.

"When did you first realise?" the Doctor was asking Jack.

"Earth, 1892," Jack replied, pressing the buttons on one of the couplings - the second one in line that the other man hadn't managed to finish. "Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kinda strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War I, World War II, poison, starvation, a stray javelin…" The Doctor winced at this. "In the end I got the message. I'm the man who can never die… And all that time you knew."

"That's why I left you behind," the Doctor told him. "It's not easy even just… just _looking_ at you, Jack. 'Cause you're wrong."

"Thanks," Jack said bitterly.

"You are. I can't help it!" the Doctor went on. "I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the TARDIS reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."

"So what you're saying is that you're, uh," he finished with his second coupling, "prejudiced?"

"I never thought of it like that?" the Doctor almost laughed, a grin spreading across his face.

"Shame on you!" Jack joked.

"Yeah."

"Last thing I remember," Jack said in all seriousness, "back when I was mortal… I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life… What happened?"

"Rose," the Doctor replied. Jack looked up at him in confusion for many reasons.

"I thought you sent her back home, that day."

"She came back." Rose wasn't sure whether the look on his face was a proud and happy one or one of fear. "Opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the Time Vortex."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"No one's ever meant to have that power," he said seriously. "If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god - a vengeful god. But she's human." A huge wistful and tender grin grew on his face. "Everything she does is _so_ human…" Rose could have laughed at the irony of that statement. "She brought you back to life, but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."

"Do you think she could change me back?" Jack asked.

"No!" the Doctor snapped. Jack looked up at him in alarm, and he took a deep breath to steady himself. "I took the power out of her. It was killing her. All that knowledge and power in a human head? It's what forced me to regenerate. I only just managed to save her. I was so scared I was going to lose her… And now I'm scared all over again. Because it's back. Somehow she kept a hold of some of it. It's scaring her… changing her even, and she wont talk to me about it. I only told her the basics of what happed. I didn't tell her exactly what it did to her, or me, or you."

"Not the only thing you haven't been telling her from what I've heard," Jack said. Rose's heart froze. Martha smiled. And the Doctor looked up at Jack sharply.

"What?"

"Martha told me about when you were human." The Doctor groaned. "I bet it must be hard for you," Jack went on it a tone that suggested he was egging the Doctor on. "Knowing that she loves you. Seeing that look in her eyes. I bet that when you look at her, you still remember the way she kissed you.-"

"Stop it!" the Doctor said harshly.

"-The feel of her body pressed against yours. Finally being truly happy for once in your life-"

"Just stop it, please!"

"Why haven't you told her you can remember?" The Doctor opened his mouth to answer, but Jack cut him off. "And please don't spout any of that Human / Time Lord crap you told Martha. I know what it's like Doctor, I don't age either. But it's never stopped me."

"But Rose-"

"Loves you no matter what," Jack cut him off again. "Do you love her?"

The Doctor sighed and leant heavily against the wall. Rose watched him on the monitor. She wasn't breathing as she waited for his reply. Her mind was still reeling from the fact that he could remember being human. She wasn't sure whether to be upset or not about that. At the moment she was almost numb from so much emotion.

"I told her my name, Jack," he finally answered. "My real one." Rose tried not to feel too disappointed that he hadn't said he loved her. But Jack's reaction made her stop short. He had gasped, and his mouth was hanging open. "I haven't ever told anyone my real name before. She – she was asleep, but I told her. Silly really," he laughed. "Even when she was asleep I was too scared to tell her I love her, but I could tell her my name. And compared to telling her my name, 'I love you' is like saying that you _like_ someone that you _love._"

"So you do love her?" Jack persisted.

"More than anything," the Doctor said quietly with a wistful smile. Jack smiled too. It was nice to hear his friend finally admit it. That, and he knew that Rose had heard the whole conversation.

Slowly a huge grin crept across Rose's face and a tear ran down her cheek. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. He really did love her! She hoped that this wasn't a dream or a sick joke… but she knew the Doctor would never joke about that or do something that cruel. It surprised her how over come with joy she felt.

Beside her Martha was smiling too. "See," she said gently, bumping Rose's shoulder.

"You knew, why didn't you tell me?" she said weakly. She was just too happy to be angry at the moment.

"You don't see me telling the Doctor you're not human anymore, do you?"

"Good point," she laughed. Then she threw her arms around her friend. Too happy to think of anything else.

.

"About time you said it aloud," Jack laughed. "You better be telling her next."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Yeah, I think I will be… Once this whole mess is sorted out. Defiantly." In the back of his mind he felt the emotions from the unknown Time Lady pushing through again. She seemed unbelievably happy. Happy enough to match how he was feeling. "I just hope she hasn't started to move on," he said, sadness creeping into his voice. "I mean, she won't even hug me at the moment… I miss her."

Jack finally got the third one and moved on to the next.

"You know," he said, trying to distract him from that thought for Rose's sake. "I went back to her estate in the 90's, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello… timelines and all that."

"Do you want to die?" the Doctor suddenly asked him. Jack wasn't sure whether it was a threat about him going back, or if was just a genuine question. He didn't answer as he struggled with the coupling.

"This one's a little stuck," he grumbled.

"Jack," he Doctor said in a warning tone, his head leaning against the glass in the door.

"I thought I did," he said in a low tone. "I don't know. But this lot, you see them out here surviving and that's _fantastic!_" The grin that had slowly growing across the Doctor's face became even broader when Jack used his old favourite word.

Then, finally the third coupling fell into place and he moved onto the last one.

"You might be out there, somewhere," the Doctor said thoughtfully.

"I could go meet myself," he joked.

"Well… It's the only man you're ever going to be happy with."

Jack cracked up laughing. "This new regeneration, it's kinda cheeky.

"Hmm," the Doctor agreed with a giggle. The smile still on his face. The more he talked to Jack, the more the uneasiness faded and the more they fell back into their old teasing ways.

And he had decided to tell Rose that he loved her…

It was just brilliant.

**?...DW…?**

"You look so happy," Martha grinned at Rose. "It's nice see you like this again." Suddenly they were interrupted by a sound that was almost like a sob. The three women turned to see Professor Yana leaning heavily against the table, gasping. He looked rather ill.

"Professor?" Rose asked. "What's wrong?" they all made their way over to him and tried to comfort him. He still looked rather far away and distracted, like he were hearing things that they couldn't.

"Chan – Professor, what is it? – Tho," Chantho said worryingly.

"It's time travel!" he said in a wobbly voice, tears were leaking down his face. They didn't quite understand how this was making him so sad. "They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed… but what would I know? I'm just a stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost… Even this thing never worked." From his waistcoat pocket he drew an old fob watch. Martha and Rose's eyes widened when they saw the familiar patterns and indents on the back of it. "Time and time and time again. Always running out on me."

"Can I have a look at that?" Rose said, her voice shaking.

"Oh, it's only and old relic… like me!" he chuckled sadly.

"Where did you get it?" Martha breathed.

"Hmm? I was found with it," he said looking out into nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"An orphan in the storm," he explained. "I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned. With only this…"

"Have you opened it?" Martha asked. But Rose knew, she could sense, she could feel he hadn't.

"Why would I? It's broken."

"How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?" Martha was becoming excited. Rose however was getting a creeping feeling of unease.

"It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know…" He held it out for the two of them and, apprehensively, Rose turned it over to reveal the front. It was decorated with Gallifreyan markings. Rose could make out some of the words like 'Time Lord', 'Human' and 'Hide' on its surface. Her face paled and she nearly dropped it. She could hear whispers from a harsh voice. Martha took a step back, breathing nervously.

"Does it matter?" he asked cautiously, seeing their reactions.

"No!" Martha said quickly. "It's… nothing. It's… Listen, everything's fine up here. I'm gonna see if the Doctor needs me." She looked regretfully over at the com, suddenly wishing Jack hadn't blocked their transitions.

Rose nodded for Martha to go on alone. She could tell him. Someone needed to keep an eye on Yana. For some reason, she didn't like the feeling she was getting from that watch. She tried to smile encouragingly as Martha headed out the door. But she was sure it hadn't worked.

**?...DW…?**

"Yes!" Jack cried excitedly as the last coupling fell into place.

"Now get out of there! Come on!" the Doctor said happily. He turned the control panel on with the sonic-screwdriver… or at least tried to; it seemed to have rebooted itself. "Lieutenant, is everyone on board?" he said into the speaker.

"Ready and waiting," came the reply.

"Stand by! Two minutes to ignition." He put down the receiver and ran to help Jack launch the ship. Just at that moment Martha ran in looking panicked. He turned to her with a grin. "Ah, nearly there," he told her. "The Footprint is a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It's gonna take the both of us to keep it stable.-" Something beeped and he rushed to press buttons. She decided to help too.

"Doctor, the Professor!" she interrupted his babble. "He's got this watch. He's got a fob watch. It's the same as yours. Same writing on it. Same… everything!"

He looked at her sharply. "Don't be ridiculous," he said in a low, quiet voice. He had completely stopped moving.

"I asked him. He said he's had it his whole life."

"So, he's got the same watch," Jack said looking up at them naively.

"Yeah, but it's not a watch," she told him. "It's this Chameleon thing."

"No, no, no," the Doctor said sounding flustered as he worked at the buttons. "It's this… This thing, this device, it rewrites biology. Changes a Time Lord into a human."

"And it's the same watch!" Martha insisted.

"It can't be," he growled, his head snapping towards her. He ran off to another panel as another alarm went off.

"That means he could be a Time Lord," Jack said hopefully. "You might not be the last one!"

"Jack, keep it level!" he shouted, not wanting to think about it.

"But that's brilliant, isn't it?" Martha said.

"Yes, it is. Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them, they died!" he shouted.

"Not if he was human," Jack countered.

"What did he say Martha?" She didn't reply. "What did he say?" he shrieked, running right up to her. She took a step back in fright. He was breathing heavily, a look of rage and disbelief on his face.

"He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it," she said. "Like that perception filter thing."

"What about now? Can he see it now?" he asked. Then his face fell even further. "Oh god, Rose! Where's Rose?"

"She's with him… I don't think she'd let him open it. Not till you're there."

**?...DW…?**

Professor Yana sat, running a finger around the edge of the watch. Before it was like he could hardly see it. Now it was like it was all there was. Rose knew he would be hearing whispers and voices, encouraging him to open it. Slowly he got up and walked towards the Doctor's severed hand. The hand was bubbling away and both Rose and Chantho were becoming increasingly worried, albeit for different reasons.

"Chan – Yana, wont you please take some rest? – Tho."

"Professor, don't open the watch!" Rose said, seeing what he was about to do.

"Why not?" he asked her, he sounded so frail and lost.

"Look, I know you're confused and lost. Trust me I know exactly how you feel. But wait, just wait for the Doctor to come back."

"But it's calling me…"

"I know it is. But just hold on a moment longer. He'll be back soon. I know the pain you've been through; I know how that watch burns. I've seen it and experienced it for myself. Please, just wait a moment longer, that's all."

But she saw the look on his face. He was lost.

Suddenly there was an explosion as the rocket took off. Chantho smiled. But Rose looked up in panic seeing Yana open the watch.

**?...DW…?**

Jack ran back over to them as the countdown started at ten.

"If he escaped the Time War then it's the perfect place to hide," he said. "The end of the universe."

"Think of what the Face of Boe said," Martha told the Doctor. Jack looked at her in surprise. "His dying words. He said-" she was cut off by an explosion as the Doctor launched the rocket.

Suddenly he froze. In his mind he felt another presence. He knew the watch had been opened. At the same time he heard the Face of Boe's last words. _You are not alone_… Yana… _Y_ou _A_re _N_ot _A_lone! Oh god!

Quickly he ran over to the wall and picked up the phone. "Lieutenant, have you achieved velocity?" There was no reply. "Have you done it? Lieutenant, have you done it?"

"Affirmative," a voice finally came down the line. "We'll see you in Utopia."

"Good Luck," he told them. He hung up the phone. And with that settled he sprinted out of the room towards his Rose and 'Yana'. Martha and Jack hot on his tail. But suddenly the door closed in their faces.

**?...DW…?**

The professor was standing in front of the TARDIS. Rose knew that he wasn't himself. He had changed. The Doctor had been just like himself as a human… This man was someone completely different.

"Chan – Professor Yana? – Tho," Chantho said in concern. Ignoring her he walked purposefully over to one of the control panels and pulled a switch. Rose saw on the monitor, the door closing on the Doctor, Martha and Jack. "Chan – But you've locked them in. – Tho."

"What are you doing? Let him out!" Rose cried.

"Don't worry, my dears," Yana said to them coldly. "As one door closes, another must open." He threw another switch. Rose had a terrible feeling that it was a very important switch that kept people alive.

"Chan – You must stop! – Tho." Yana continued to ignore her and kept working on various controls around the lab. "Chan – But you've lowered the defences! The Futurekind will get in! – Tho."

"You have to stop!" Rose yelled at him. She grabbed onto his arm, but he shook her off. Suddenly Chantho's shaky voice came from behind her. She turned to see the insect girl with a gun in her hands.

"Chan – Professor, I'm so sorry. But I must stop you. You're destroying all our work. – Tho."

Yana gave a small chuckle of disbelief, until he turned and saw the gun. Then his face lit up.

"Oh! Now I can say I was provoked!" he said happily. He pulled up one of the broken live wires and held it out to her. Chantho took a step back and gasped.

"No!" Rose cried, running forwards. Just as she reached him, he swung his free hand around and backhanded her. The force sent her flying and her head bashed against the corner of the TARDIS. The world grew increasingly foggier. In pain, she reached up and touched her head. She pulled it away to find blood on her hand. Through the mist she could hear Yana shouting and Chantho whispering.

Then her world faded to back.

**?...DW…?**

After a few desperate moments with the Doctor using the sonic-screwdriver and Jack overriding the codes, the door finally opened. They didn't waste a second and were running full pelt down the corridor before it had opened all the way.

But as they ran, they came face to face with the Futurekind. What were they doing here? How did they get in? …Shit, Rose! Quickly they turn-tailed and ran the other way, the Futurekind hot in pursuit.

"This way!" Jack shouted heading down a different corridor. The Doctor and Martha followed without question. And - thankfully with a head start - they made it back to the lab. But the door was locked.

"Professor!" the Doctor shouted desperately. Looking through the window he saw the old man emerge from behind the TARDIS and disappear from view again. "Professor, let me in! Let me in! Jack, get the door open! Now!" He pounded against the window and tried to use the sonic. He didn't really hear Martha gasp in fright, nor the savage cries as the Futurekind closing in on them. "Professor! Professor, where are you? Professor! Chantho! Chantho, are you there? Please, I need to explain! Whatever you do, don't open that watch! Rose!"

"Hurry!" Martha shrieked at them, pressing the lot of them against the door as the Futurekind charged towards them.

"Open the door! Please! I'm begging you, Professor! Please! Listen to me! Open the door, _please_!"

Inside they heard a strangled cry, and giving up on the code, Jack used the butt of his gun to smash the keypad and open the door. The Doctor pushed his way inside and stopped dead when he saw the Professor. He was looking bad, injured… dying… But there was something in his eyes, he wasn't the Professor anymore. And before he could stop him, the old man - Time Lord - slipped into the TARDIS and slammed the door. He tried to run, but he got there too late. He was locked out.

Desperately he tried the key, but he must have locked it from the inside, because it wouldn't budge. He tried the sonic-screwdriver, but when he heard a chiming, clunking noise, he knew it was useless.

"Let me in! Let me in!" he cried, pounding on the TARDIS door.

"She's dead," Martha whispered, her hand resting on Chantho's body. Ice shot through the Doctor. He was locked out of the TARDIS, Chantho was dead… and Rose was nowhere to be seen.

"Rose?" he shouted.

"I've broken the lock! Give me a hand!" Jack called from the door. He was trying to keep it closed as the Futurekind slammed against it. Martha rushed over to help him, but the Doctor was looking around the room for Rose, then, not seeing her, he focused on the TARDIS.

"Rose! Rose, are you in there?" still there was no answer from inside. He tried to talk to the professor again. "I'm begging you! Everything's changed! It's only the two of us, we're the only ones left! Just _let me in_!"

Suddenly the widows of the TARDIS lit up like something was exploding and an ear-piercing shriek could be heard. Whoever was in there - and he had a sinking feeling he knew _exactly_ who it was - was regenerating.

"Doctor!" Jack cried as they struggled with the Futurekind. "You'd better think of something!" Martha screamed as an arm reached in for her.

Inside the TARDIS the light faded along with the screams.

There was a 'ding' and the TARDIS speakers came on. "Now then, Doctor!" a voice cried in delight. "Ooh, new voice! **Hello**. _Hello_. Hello," he tried out the pitches of his new voice. "Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me? I_ don't_ think!" Yep, defiantly - horrifically - impossibly - who he thought it was. Obviously he had learnt his lesson about that.

"Hold on, I know that voice!" Martha said.

"I'm asking you really properly. Just stop, just think!" he begged.

"Use my name," the voice said.

"Master…" he murmured. "I'm sorry."

"Tough!" there was graunching noise as the Master started the controls.

"Where's Rose? What have you don't to her?" he cried as he held up the sonic to confuse the co-ordinates.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" the Master laughed.

"I can't hold them much longer, Doctor!" Jack cried out.

"Oh, no you don't!" the Master cried as the TARDIS, no doubt, sparked at him. "End of the universe. Have fun. Bye bye!" Before them, the TARDIS began to dematerialise.

"Doctor, stop him!" Martha cried.

But it was too late; there was nothing they could do to stop it. All they could do was watch helplessly as it disappeared.

It wasn't until the TARDIS was gone that he saw it. A shadow of a figure sprawled on the ground. The body had been hidden out of sight, behind the TARDIS. It was Rose.

"Rose!" he cried in horror, rushing over to her. She was unconscious and bleeding, but she was still breathing.

"Doctor, _help_!" Jack cried.

Quick as he could, the Doctor picked up Rose and slung her over his shoulder before he headed over to help Jack and Martha. They would get out of here if it was the last thing they did. Because he would not let anymore harm come to Rose.

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><p><em><strong>Phase two - complete… well, with a few unexpected circumstances for them. But yay! Rose now knows he loves her. I wanted to put this in here A) because I just couldn't really see it fitting in so perfectly anywhere else. B) I wanted Rose to know BEFORE she tells him she's changed. That way she knows that she really does mean something to him, and that he hasn't just decided 'oh, you're not going to die so fast, I can be with you now!'<strong>_

_**Not so good that she's currently unconscious.**_


	60. The Sound of Drums, Saxon

_**Duh, duh, duh, dum. Duh, duh, duh, dum. The Sound of Drums! I know that many of you were / are wanting certain things to happen, but I've already got most of this written out. I' actually thinking of doing an 'Alternate and Deleted Scenes' story to go with this.**_

_**And a BIG thank you to Lizzi who has started proof reading for me!**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

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***The Sound of Drums***

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**Saxon**

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There was a bright flash and four people appeared in an abandoned alleyway. They all gasped and clutched their heads - except the unconscious blonde woman. The tall skinny man sank to the ground under the pressure of the body he was carrying. Gently as he could, the Doctor lay Rose down on the ground.

"Oh, my head!" Martha cried. Then she noticed that the Doctor was about to check Rose over and made to push him out of the way.

"Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer," he winced. Then he was bowled over by the dark-skinned girl. "Oi! What are you doing?" he cried.

"Hearts slow," she stated, checking the pulse. There was something in the way she said it that sounded odd. It hadn't sounded like she had said 'heart's slow'… but she had, hadn't she? "Injury to the head, she's going to at least have a minor concussion if it's possible for T-" She cut off what she was going to say and he looked at her questioningly. "Do you have anything to heal her head?"

The Doctor moved around to her head and, putting the sonic-screwdriver on the healing setting, ran it over the wound a dozen times. Soon the only reminder of the wound was the blood staining her hair. He set the sonic-screwdriver to scan to check that there were no broken bones. He looked at the results, glad she was otherwise alright, but something seemed odd about the scan. He adjusted the setting so he could get a full body scan rather than just bone, but Martha grabbed his hand as Rose groaned and her eyes began to flutter open.

"Oh god, my head," she moaned, her voice slightly slurred. They helped her into a sitting position.

"Rose, look at me?" Martha commanded. She grabbed her by the face and checked her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Rose," she replied in a daze.

"Little more than that, Rose."

"Rose Tyler."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Yana opened the watch, he tried to kill Chantho," she mumbled. "I tried to stop him but he pushed me into the TARDIS. I love her, but she hurts!"

"Good, okay, how many fingers?" she held up her hand.

"Three really blurry ones," she said squinting at them.

"Rose," the Doctor said taking over the questioning. "When I say something, I want you to tell me how many you have. Fingers?"

"Um… ten," she said after a moment.

"Toes?"

She still had to think a moment before answering. "Ten…"

"Eyes?"

She lifted her hand and felt her face. "Two."

"Hearts?" he joked.

Her face crumpled in confusion. "…Two?" she said.

"No, Rose, that's the Doctor," Martha laughed nervously. "You only have one."

"Oh, do I? Okay," she said, still in a daze. She swayed dizzily on the spot and Jack came to support her.

"Other than the head injury there's no other signs of blood," Martha said in a businesslike voice. "No fractures. Her sight is blurry and she's disorientated. But she can remember what happened. No doubt she'll have one hell of a headache. I'd say it's only a minor concussion, should be alright in a few hours. But we should keep an eye on her."

"Do you want some aspirin, Sweetie?" Jack asked her.

"No! That could kill her!" Martha cried in alarm.

"Oh, shit," Jack swore. "I forgot that…"

"Painkillers could increase the chance of internal bleeding," Martha covered for him.

"Where are we?" Rose asked. "Where's Yana and Chantho? What happened?"

The three of them all looked at each other. "Chantho is dead. I'm sorry," the Doctor told her quietly. "And Yana stole the TARDIS. We used Jack's Vortex Manipulator to get here." All Rose could do was stare at them in shock.

.

Once Rose was steady on her feet, they walked out into the open, taking in their surroundings. "Still, at least we made it," Jack said. "Earth, 21st century by the looks of it. Ha ha, talk about lucky!"

"That wasn't luck," the Doctor told him, "That was me." They headed over towards some seats so that Rose could have a rest. "I fixed your Vortex Manipulator with the sonic-screwdriver and set the co-ordinates to what would have roughly been where the TARDIS was going to land."

"The moral is, if you're gonna get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his Vortex Manipulator," Jack said.

"But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS. He could be anywhere in time and space."

"No. He's here. Trust me," the Doctor said looking around the square in suspicion.

"Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end, that wasn't the professor."

"If the Master's a Time Lord, he must have regenerated," Jack said.

"Chantho must have shot him," Rose murmured.

"Regenerated? You three keep saying stuff about this 'regeneration', what is it? What does that mean?"

"Remember how I told you the Doctor changed? It means he's changed," Rose told her. "His face, voice, body, everything. New Man. Trust me, I know," she nodded towards the Doctor who was still staring critically at their surroundings.

"Then how are we going to find him?"

"I'll know him. The moment I see him. Time Lords always do," he said. Suddenly Jack snorted in amused disbelief. Then Martha began to laugh. Even Rose had to stifle a small giggle, though she was trying to hold back the nervousness. Then again, he seemed pretty clueless. Which was good. Because she didn't want him to just find out, she wanted to be the one to tell him. "What?" he asked them. But by now they were all laughing too much at his bewildered expression that they couldn't reply.

Martha suddenly sobered when a woman passed by her, handing out campaign fliers. Suddenly, something clicked in her head. "But hold on," she said. "If he could be anyone… We missed the election. But it can't be…"

At the sound of clapping they saw a small crowd gathering before the square's news screen. Slowly they stood and moved closer.

'_Mr Saxon has returned form the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters_,' the announcer was saying. The screen showed a man and woman walking arm in arm down a flight of stairs. The man had short dark hair and looked to be in his early thirties.

"I said I knew that voice," Martha told them. "When he spoke inside the TARDIS. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him, we all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon."

"That's him," the Doctor said. "He's Prime Minister," his voice a disbelieving whisper. "The Master is the Prime Minister of Great Britain." They watched as the camera men encouraged Saxon to kiss the woman beside him. "The Master and his wife!"

On screen they watched as Saxon stepped forward. A close up shot revealed his dark, cold brown eyes. Rose gasped and clutched at the Doctor's arm. She knew those eyes. They had haunted her at night for so long.

'_This country has been sick_,' Harold Saxon - AKA: the Master - addressed the people. '_This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, what this country really needs right now… is a Doctor_.' He flashed a sickeningly smarmy smile at the camera.

"It's him," Rose whispered fearfully. The Doctor put an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. He was surprised that she didn't shrug him off. Something about the Master was scaring her. And there was something horribly familiar about him. Not just the fact that he would always be familiar to him, but something specifically about this incarnation. It made his blood run cold. But what was it?

**?...DW…?**

"Home!" Martha sighed as they entered her flat.

"What have you got?" the Doctor demanded in a rush, taking his coat off and putting it on the couch. "Computer, laptop, anything." He noticed Jack trying to make a call on his phone. "Jack! Who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here!"

"Just some friends of mine," he said. "But there's no reply…" Wordlessly, Rose flopped on the couch and put her head in her hands.

"Here you go," Martha said handing the Doctor her laptop. "Any good?"

"I can show you the Saxon websites," Jack said taking the laptop from him and opening it on the desk. "He's been around for ages."

"That's so weird though," Martha said. "'Cause it's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you."

"We went flying around the universe while he was here all the time," the Doctor said in concern. It didn't make sense! Surely he would have_ felt_ him here. But still, even now he could only feel one other presence, the presence of the Time Lady. That was another thing to worry about really.

Worry list:

* The Master (Top priority).

* The Time Lady.

* Why the others (especially Rose) were acting so strange.

.

"You gonna tell us who he is?" Martha asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

"He's a Time Lord," he answered simply.

"What about the rest of it?" she persisted. "I mean, who'd call himself the Master?"

"That all you need to know," the Doctor told her firmly, a 'don't go there' tone clear in his voice.

Rose's brain, although getting better, was very slow and sluggish at the moment. And despite the fact she'd heard them say the name lots of times since she woke, it only just clicked into place now. "Wait, _that's_ the Master?" she cried. "As in, the Master that possessed Nissa's dad and later on fell into the Eye of Harmony?"

The Doctor rounded on her in shock. "How did you know that?" he said taken aback.

"You told me, remember?" she said fidgeting in her seat.

"Yeah, I remember," he said. "But how do you?"

"You can hear people talk when you're unconscious," she said defensively.

"You said you were asleep!" he cried.

"Well, what was I supposed to say?" she almost yelled back. A part of her brain told her that she probably shouldn't be saying this, but her head felt too mushy to care. "'I've been unconscious for an -_ two_ hours, but I'm going to fall unconscious again in three, two, one… bye bye.' You were already panicking enough as it was!"

The Doctor just stared at her with an open mouth. "So… so you remember everything I said?" he asked after a moment. She nodded with a small nervous smile. "Good," he said nodding heavily as if he were accepting this, then a smile appeared on his face. "Good," he said again, more confidently.

And it was good. He wanted her to know it all. That had been why he had told her in the first place, even if he hadn't thought she could hear it at the time. He turned to see the websites that Jack had dragged up, only to spin back around again. "Wait," he said. "Even my…"

"Yep," she grinned. "Even that." He loved it that she knew what he was talking about… He loved it that she knew his name.

"Good," he said yet again, this time a huge grin spread across his face. "Right… Show me Harold Saxon," he said to Jack. Jack opened some pages while Martha went to check her messages, she gave up on them in three seconds.

The Doctor came over to join the Rose on the couch, perching himself on the arm, as they watched some of the campaign adds featuring Sharon Osborne, McFly, and even Anne Widdecombe. Jack closed out of them to show them pictures of his life.

"Former Minister of Defence," Jack read. "First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve… Nice work, by the way," he added to the Doctor.

"Oh, thanks," he said.

"But he goes back years," Martha said. "He's famous. Everyone knows the story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby Blue, won the Athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life." The Doctor only ran his hand over his face as he thought.

A couple of minutes passed before Jack stood. "Anyone want a coffee?" he asked. They all just gave him a look. "Right… tea, then?" everyone nodded and he went into the kitchen to make four teas.

"How could he have an entire life here?" Rose eventually asked as her head became clearer by the second. Thank god for superior Time Lord Biology… wait, did that mean she_ was _a Time Lord. Well, she was as close to one as you could get, she supposed. Then again, the Doctor had said that he would be able to know another Time Lord as soon as he saw one… So did that mean the she wasn't one, or just that he was _very_ blind? Especially now that she couldn't feel the TARDIS protecting her. She just supposed he was very distracted. And with a frenemy like the Master, she wasn't surprised.

"But he's got the TARDIS," Jack said from the kitchen. He emerged carrying four cups and handed them out. "Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."

"No," the Doctor said adamantly.

"Why not?" he asked. "It worked for me."

"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the co-ordinates. I locked the permanently. He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."

"Yeah, but a little leeway?"

"Well, eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of… hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale."

"I was gonna vote for him," Martha said.

"Really?"

"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him."

"Me too," Jack agreed.

"Why do you say that?" the Doctor asked curiously. "What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I dunno," Martha said dreamily. "He always just sounded… good." Subconsciously she began to tap out a beat. _Tap, tap, tap, tap - Tap, tap, tap, tap._ "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about… I really can't remember, but it was good… Just the sound of his voice…"

_Tap, tap, tap, tap - Tap, tap, tap, tap - Tap, tap, tap, tap - Tap, tap, tap, tap._

"Stop it!" Rose suddenly shrieked, standing up. She was covering her ears and staring at Martha in horror. The drums! Those damn drums were following her!

Everyone was shocked into silence by her reaction. The three of them stared at her in bewilderment. But the Doctor recognised it. He had heard it a lot recently. Ever since they had come back to Earth. Everyone was tapping it out… But he'd heard it somewhere else… _Where_? And why would Rose…? Oh, crap. Rose's dream!

"What's that?" he asked.

"What?" Martha said, sounding rather startled.

"That! That tapping, that rhythm! What are you doing?"

"I dunno!" she cried as if he'd blamed her for something. "It's nothing. It's just - I don't know!"

Rose ran a hand through her hair and sat down at the table. She had a horrible sinking feeling that things were only going to get worse.

And her dreams… her nightmares.

The change. Arguing with the Doctor. Jack. The Master. The drums. The reminder of the Beast…

There were only two more visions left to come true. And the both of them would kill her, one way or another.

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><p><em><strong>Dum, dum, dahhh! Looks like Rose is going to have to be extra careful until she tells him.<strong>_

_**So… On the 4th (3rd for those of you on the other side of the world) I am going camping at the beach for a week. I know! It will be fun, but I'm not sure if I will be able to survive a week without my beloved laptop! (My stepbrothers call me a computer attachment).**_

_**Since sand and technology don't really mix, my plan is to set up my tent next to the generator and keep it only in my tent. That way I MIGHT be able to get a little more written. So hopefully I'll have something to update with when I get back.**_

_**Unfortunately, that means there will be no updates for a week. I promise to try and get as many as I can up before then, but this might be the last one.**_

_**So I'll see you when I get back! I'll miss you!**_


	61. The Sound of Drums, Running

**Running**

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Rose had just finished washing the blood from her hair when a tune signalled that the Prime Minister would be broadcasting.

"Our Lord and Master is speaking to his kingdom," the Doctor muttered, rushing over to turn the telly on. He sat back on the coffee table with Rose while Martha stayed on the couch and Jack moved over to get a better look. The TV showed a mid-shot of the Master sitting at a desk in front of the ornate fireplace in the cabinet room.

"Britain, Britain, Britain," said almost fondly. "What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came. Out of the unknown. Falling from the skies. You've seen it happen. Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill." A montage of footage of these events played across the screen. "Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this, Citizens of Great Britain… I have been contacted." Rose and Jack looked at each other in bewilderment. What was this man playing at? "A message for humanity from beyond the stars." He gave a nod to someone off camera and a new shot appeared.

The picture wasn't very good quality, it was rather grainy. But still you could see the large metal spherical shape clearly. It bleeped as lights ran over it, but what it was saying was lost in the crash. Getting a horrible shock, Rose had jumped and tumbled off the coffee table. She scrambled back from the TV as far as she could as if the beings would come out of it and attack her.

"No! Oh god, no. No, no, no, no," she whimpered. "Oh god, it's them!" Martha and Jack were looking at her in concern and confusion. But the Doctor was too intent on the screen. Then he felt fear spike through the telepathic connection, the strongest one yet. His head snapped up and he looked around the room, then out the window. She had to be near. Very, _very_ near.

"-in return is your friendship," the high pitch child like voice finished. The voice reminded him eerily of the Gelth, and the body… he had seen it before _somewhere_. But where? All he knew was that it was in no way good.

The screen snapped back to the Master, who was pouting adorably. "Ooh, sweet," he cooed. "And this species had identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."

"What?" the Doctor cried incredulously.

"And tomorrow morning they will appear, _not_ in secret, but to all of you," Saxon went on. "Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. And every… oh, I don't know… medical student?"

Everyone's eyes widened in alarm and their heads spun to Martha. This really couldn't be good. In less than a second the Doctor was on his knees, turning the TV around to reveal a bomb. It had already started to count down.

"Out!" he shouted at them. They all dashed out the door, the Doctor grabbing the laptop and his coat on the way. They had only just gotten out on the street when the flat exploded, making the ground shake beneath them. Martha looked up horrified at her home. "All right?" he asked them, looking back at the house.

"Fine, yeah, I'm fine," Jack replied quickly.

"I'm okay," Rose gasped. There was no reply from Martha.

"Martha?" the Doctor called. He wasn't looking at her and when she still didn't reply he turned to look at her. He saw that she had her phone out and was dialling furiously. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"He knows about me. What about my family?" she cried.

"Don't tell them anything!" he warned, his anger at his own stupidity showing in his voice and being taken out on the others.

"I'll do what I like!" she hissed at him in a low voice, her hand raised at him in a clenching motion like she was considering strangling him. Then someone answered the phone. "Mum? Oh my god, you're there. - I'm fine. I'm fine," she said quickly in reply to something. "Mum, has there been anyone asking about me? - I can't, not now! - Don't be so daft! Since when?" she said incredulously, she blinked as she listened to the reply, realisation dawning on her. "You'd never get back with him in a million years. - Dad? What are you doing there?" Panic flitted across her face as she listened to her dad talk. Slowly the Doctor walked closer to her. He knew that something was very wrong, it was written clearly across her face. "Dad, just say yes or no. Is there someone else there?" Suddenly, yelling could be heard down the line and horror and fear grew on Martha's face. "Dad! What's going on? Dad?" she cried in alarm. She snapped the phone shut and ran to a car that may have been hers. "I gotta help them!" she cried.

"That's exactly what they want! It's a trap!" the Doctor told her forcefully.

"I don't care!" she shouted at him.

They really didn't have many options. It was Martha's family, and she was very determined to protect them. With a hard look at the others, the Doctor jumped into the front passenger seat as Rose and Jack jumped in the back. Then she was driving off. She was driving so fast and recklessly that Rose was surprised they didn't have a line of police cars chasing them.

"Corner!" the Doctor yelled at Martha as she haphazardly swung around. The tires squealed and they rattled around. But Martha still held that look of furious determination.

She connected her phone to the handless connection and waited impatiently as it dialled. "C'mon, Tish. Pick up!"

'Martha, I can't talk right now," Tish's voice came down the line. "We just made first contact. Did you see-" Suddenly she cut herself off. When she spoke again it wasn't to them. "What are you doing?" she cried indignantly. There was a clunk as she dropped her phone and they heard her shouts getting further away.

"What's happening? Tish!" Martha cried at the phone. She glanced at that Doctor. "It's your fault!" she snapped at him. "You stupid bloody Time Lords. The lot of you! It's your fault!" The Doctor knew that she was upset and stressed, so he didn't take this to heart. Although Rose wasn't too happy with the way she threw 'the lot of you' in the mix.

Soon they screeched around the corner to see Francine being loaded into a police van with Martha's father. Martha stopped the car in shock. "Martha, get out of here!" her mother yelled at her. "Get out!"

A woman off to the side said something and police stepped forward aiming their guns.

"Martha, reverse," the Doctor told her.

"Take aim…" the heard the order. The guns pointed higher and were cocked.

"Get out, now!" he shouted at the stunned woman in the driver's seat. Snapping into action, Martha reversed into a three point turn and they drove off just as the police started firing.

"Move it!" Jack shouted at her as he and Rose ducked. The rear window shattered above them as it was hit. Rose didn't get back up until they were long clear.

"The only place he can go is planet Earth!" Martha snapped bitterly. "Great!"

"Careful!" the Doctor shouted as she nearly missed the corner.

"Martha, calm down!" Rose pleaded.

"Martha, listen to me," Jack said in a level voice. "Do as I say. We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!" he commanded forcefully when she was still too shocked to comply.

Soon they were driving the car under an old bridge and abandoning it in the rain. They started walking on foot under the bride and out into the soft rain. Martha stopped a moment o grab her phone out and dialled another number.

"Martha, come on!" the Doctor commanded.

Martha followed behind, the phone pressed to her ear. "Leo!" she cried when he answered. "Oh, thank god! Leo, you gotta listen to me. Where are you? - Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home, I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've gotta hide. - On my life! You've gotta trust me! Go to Boxer's. Stay with him. Don't tell anyone! Just hide!" Suddenly she stopped dead in her tacks behind them. "Let them go, Saxon!" she suddenly shouted at the phone. The Doctor wheeled around and ran back to her. "Do you hear me? Let them go!"

The Doctor took the phone from her and put it to his own ear. "I'm here," he said in a low voice. He could pretty much feel the change of atmosphere down the other side of the line as the Master went from taunting to serious.

"Doctor," the voice whispered after a moment.

"Master," he replied almost casually as he waked away from the others.

"I like it when you use my name," the Master breathed, creeping him out a little. He chose to ignore it.

"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."

"As you chose yours," the Master shot back. "The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"

"So…" the Doctor mused, steering the conversation in a different direction. "Prime Minister, then?"

"I know," he said joyfully, sounding far too smug. "It's good, isn't it?" He really wasn't up for ego boosting session.

"Who are those creatures?" the Doctor demanded. "'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made up name like the Bogeyman!" It seemed that the Master wasn't really willing to give up any answers. He wanted his own questions answered.

"Do you remember all those fairytales about the Toclafane when we were kids?" he asked almost evasively. "Back home… Where is it, Doctor?"

"Gone," he said softly, a lump forming in his throat.

"How can Gallifrey be gone?" the Master hissed.

"It burned," he said. The guilt and pain began to surface keenly. But just when he thought his voice might start wavering from the grief, he felt a feather light touch in his mind. It soothed him, calming the grief and taking away the guilt in a way that only one other had ever been able to. By its mere presence in his mind it calmed him, sending him strength and telling him - not with words, but feelings - that he did what he could, he didn't have any other choice. It wasn't his fault.

"And the Time Lords?"

"Dead," he told the Master, sitting down on a bench. "And the Daleks… more or less. What happened to you?"

"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it… I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me because… I was so scared."

"I know," he told him gently. He didn't blame him for doing it. He knew how horrible the Time War had been. He had nearly run himself.

"All of them?" the Master asked, losing a bit of the seriousness. "But not you. Which must mean…"

"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything." He knew it was the Master. He knew that he was mad and that he now hated him and that he probably barely gave a damn about what he had done. But the fact that there was someone else made him want to justify himself. To explain… to ask forgiveness. Once again he felt strength being given to him.

"What did it feel like, though?" the Master breathed. "Two almighty civilizations burning. Oh, tell me, how did it feel?"

"Stop it!" he snapped.

"You must have been like God."

"I've been alone ever since," he told the Master seriously. "But not anymore. Don't you see, all we've got is each other?"

"You're wrong," the Master told him.

"What?"

"There's someone else. One other. She's close, Doctor, so close."

"I know," he whispered. "I've been searching for her for weeks. But she's blocking herself. She doesn't want to be found."

"When I find her, we can start Gallifrey anew."

"You could stop this right now," he said starting to sound desperate. "We could leave this planet. We could fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth!"

"Too late," was the whispered reply.

"Why do you say that?"

"The drumming." The Doctor heard a faint tapping sound coming down the line. "I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."

"I could help you. Please, let me help." He was worried for his old friend. Despite what he thought, the Doctor still cared for him.

"It's everywhere," the madman continued. "Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums… Here come the drums."

His attention was drawn by a near by man tapping the same beat out on his lap as he listened to his music. Somehow he was controlling them with the rhythm. "What have you done?" he demanded, standing up. Anger and frustration seeped into his voice. "Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!"

"Ooh, look. You're on TV!" the Master said brightly.

"Stop it! Answer me!" the Doctor cried, getting sick of the mind games.

"No, really. You're on telly!" he said excitedly. "You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!"

The Doctor walked up to a TV in a shop widow to see it screening the BBC News. The screen showed individual shots of him, Rose, Martha and Jack before showing them all on one shot.

"You're public enemies number one, two, three and four," the Master said snidely. "Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he wont be getting any help from them." The Doctor's eyes flicked over to where Jack, Rose and Martha were leaning near by. Seeing his expression and what he was looking at, they came over to join him. "Now, go on, off you go," the Master teased. "Why not start by turning to the… right?"

The Doctor looked to the right, seeing nothing he looked up a little. There, above them, was a security camera trained right on them.

"He can see us," he said. He whipped out the sonic-screwdriver and broke the camera.

"Ooh! You public menace!" the Master cried. "Better start running. Go on. Run!"

"He's got control of everything," the Doctor told the others, no longer listening to the phone in his hand.

"What do we do?" Rose asked quietly.

"We've got nowhere to go," Jack shook his head. The Doctor just looked at them. He didn't _know_ what to do.

"Doctor, _what do we do?_" Martha cried more forcefully. They heard the sound of the Master's voice coming from the phone, his words indistinguishable. The Doctor just looked at them.

"We run," he said quietly. Then he grabbed Rose's hand. And they ran… but where to, they had no idea.

**?...DW…?**

It was dark by the time they found somewhere to hide. It was just an old abandoned warehouse, but it would do. Martha was out getting them some food. The Doctor was busy doing as much research as he could on the laptop, using the sonic-screwdriver to keep its battery constantly full. Rose and Jack sat off to the side, listening to the loud rain. Neither said anything for a long time. None of them really felt the need to sit beside the small fire they had going.

"Aren't you cold?" Jack asked her. "You should sit by the fire."

"I'm fine," she told him. It was loud enough that the Doctor could hear. Then she lowered it so that the sound of the rain on the roof would drown her words out before they reached him. "Different body temperature," she told Jack quietly. "I can handle it. It's quite nice actually." Jack glanced worryingly up at the Doctor; she knew he had thought he might have heard. "Don't worry, he can't hear us if we speak this quietly," she assured him. "He may have superior Time Lord biology, but he's not superman."

Jack chuckled loudly enough that the Doctor looked up at them a moment before looking back at the computer.

"Oh, shut it, you stupid Boe Face!" she giggled quietly.

At this Jack grew serious. "You know I'm the Face of Boe?" he asked. She nodded solemnly. "It's just a nickname really. I was a poster boy, first Time Agent to be signed up from the Boeshane Peninsula … that's where it came from. But how do you know who I am, and not them? I heard them before. They said something about the Face of Boe's dying words. I mean, great, I'm really going to die one day, but…"

"It's a long way off. I'm sorry, Jack," she said softly. "It's billions of years in the future. Far past the end of the Earth. But yes, you will die… forever." She smiled at him weakly. "But you're surrounded by friends. Me, the Doctor and Martha will be there. They don't know it's you because, well… you look rather different." She saw the worry on his face. "Don't worry, it's nothing too bad," she said quickly. She wasn't sure if it was a lie or not. Would he count being a giant head as a bad thing? "And I'm not telling you anything else," she said sternly as he opened his mouth.

"Yeah, okay, timelines and all that. But how did you know it was me?"

Rose took a deep breath. "'You are not alone' is the last thing you said to the Doctor. We all heard it. Yeah, it's true. What with the Master… and me, I guess. But before that you said something to me alone. In my head. You tried to warn me about changing. You said you were sorry about how much it would hurt. And, '_Just as beautiful as the day I first saw you. Big Ben glowing in the firelight_', that's what you said to me. That's why I was so shocked when you said them to me earlier." Suddenly she giggled as a memory struck her. "Oh, and I guess I should thank you too."

"What for?" he asked.

"Do you remember when the Doctor and I told you about our first 'date'?" Jack nodded in reply. "You set it up! You were the one who organised the viewing platform and sponsored the event. You set up out first date!"

At this, Jack cracked up laughing, causing the Doctor to look up at them in question. But they were too busy laughing to answer him. He gave up and turned back to the computer.

"Now you just need to tell him about this," he prodded his fingers over where her hearts were. "Then I might be able to set you two up on a proper first date."

"Yeah, after this is over. He's got enough to worry about at the moment."

"Yeah," Jack said casually. "Wouldn't want the Master ruining anything…"

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><p><em><strong>Hello!<strong>_

_**I'm back! I had a lovely holiday thank you. Even though it had to be cut short because of storms. Unfortunately my family don't quite seem so fond of rain as I am. But I have a nice tan.**_

_**It's good to be back and writing! Sorry I didn't really get the chance to write more of this. I was banned from bringing my laptop. But I took lots of notebooks and the first night I was there I had an epic dream which has inspired a new story… Wow, I have a LOT of Doctor Who stories going at the same time!**_

_**A Life with Rose  
>History Repeats<br>Twice the Love  
>Forgotten Past<br>Confusion**_  
>…<em><strong>And those are just the main ones!<strong>_

_**Anyway. Jack starts on phase 3! No, sorry, the Doctor didn't over hear that. He's not using the same one twice. No, this is a little more subtle.**_

_**Hope you enjoyed it! I'm glad to be back, I missed you!**_


	62. The Sound of Drums, Telling Stories

_**Hi! Oh my goodness! My family were teasing my step brother about being stupid and the fact he was hairy enough to be an ape. So of course what did I say? 'Ethan is a Stupid Ape!' - it was awesome!**_

_**On other matters, I now have a page on facebook. Check it out: www (dot) facebook (dot) com/#!/pages/Krazy-Ky-sta-Hatter/211442535611697?sk=wall**_

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><p>.<p>

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**Telling Stories**

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Martha stole quietly back into the warehouse. She was wet but the hot bundle in her arms kept her warm. She let out an audible sigh of relief at the sight of the fire they had started.

"How was it?" Jack asked her.

"I don't think anyone saw me," she told them, putting the chips on the table. "Anything new?"

"I've got this tuned into government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon is doing," Jack told her tapping his Vortex Manipulator.

"Yeah, I meant about my family," she snapped. She handed the small bags of chips out to everyone and they opened them.

"It's still says 'the Jones family taken in for questioning'," the Doctor told her looking at the computer screen as he had been for at least an hour now, before grabbing his chips off her. "Tell you what, though, no mention of Leo."

"He's not as daft as he looks," she smiled softly. Suddenly the smile fell as she realised what she'd said. "I'm talking about my brother on the run! How did this happen?"

"Nice chips," Jack said as an obvious distraction as he sad down, munching away.

"Actually, they're not bad," the Doctor grinned popping another in his mouth. He had picked up on the attempt to lighten the mood. They really needed it. Even Rose was looking gloomy! Speaking of… "Mmm, you should have seen Rose last time we had chips," he said. "She made a noise that would have made you rather jealous, Jack."

At this, Rose gaped at the Doctor and blushed. Jack snorted in amusement, giving Rose a wink. And Martha cracked up laughing.

"God, that was hilarious!" she cried. "We're talking away, eating chips. Next thing you know, Rose is moaning like she's having the best sex of her life!"

"Alright! Stop it!" Rose cried at them, now turning crimson, totally mortified.

"Please, I could have done better than that!" he said indignantly. He could imagine that he would be able to illicit much better moans from said Rose Tyler than a chip! …That is, he would… if the Doctor didn't murder him literally a hundred times for even having those thoughts. Indeed, just at the statement, he saw the Doctor glower at him.

"Shut up, Jack!" Rose cried at him. She managed to clam down a little, enough to retort. "You better watch that ego, too. You're getting a big head." Suddenly, she realised what she'd said and burst into hysterics. The other three looked at her like she were mad… the thought that she was did stray across Martha's mind. She wasn't too sure about her mental health after the last three months.

"It wasn't that funny," he sulked. "And the Doctor has a big ego, too."

"Yeah, but you have a big head!" she giggled uncontrollably. They continued to give her odd looks. None of them saw how funny it was. Jack didn't know what he would come to look like, and Martha and the Doctor didn't know who he was.

After a moment she was able to calm down. Then the mood once again became sombre as they remembered the gravity of their situation.

"So, Doctor, who is he?" Jack asked eventually. "How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"

"And what is he to you?" Martha added. "Like a colleague, or…"

"A friend at first," he told them.

Martha almost looked a little relived. "I thought you were gonna say he was you secret brother or something."

The Doctor and Jack looked at her in amused bewilderment and Rose snorted. "You've been watching too much TV," the Doctor almost laughed. Martha gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack said, a sorry look on his face.

"Well, perfect to look at, maybe," the Doctor said lightly. "And it was, it was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mighty race in the universe. Looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch…"

The images in the Doctor's head, as he told them of his home in a wistful voice, were so strong that they filtered through into Roses mind. He was so enraptured in his memories that he didn't notice her gasp or the look of awe on her face as she saw what he did. She saw the burnt orange sky and the snow-capped red mountains. She saw the citadel, just as he had described it to her. She saw the Time Lords; with their long red robes and strange large collars. It looked magnificent. It was so beautiful. She had to suppress the tears brimming in her eyes.

"Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy," the Doctor continued. She pulled out of their shared reverie in time to see the look of shock on Martha's face. She knew exactly what was running through her head, she'd had the same thought's when the Doctor had told her the first time. "And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child… That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It was a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the Vortex. We stand there, eight years old… staring at the raw power of time and space. Just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away… and some would go mad," he finished quietly. He shook himself to clear the memories out. "I don't know," he finished brightly.

"What about you?" Martha asked, breaking him out of it.

"Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped!" he said playfully.

"I sucked it in, erased Daleks and nearly burnt my brains out," Rose said just as cheerfully. Jack and Martha looked at her in confusion.

"You saw…" Jack trailed off.

"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS," the Doctor told them. "The Untempered Schism is gone - thank god - that's the closest thing you can get to it now, other than to throw open the TARDIS doors while we're travelling… Which I do not recommend."

"I can vouch for that," Jack laughed humourlessly. "I guess I kind of saw it too… I didn't really look much. Buried my head into the TARDIS. I'm surprised I didn't die before you landed."

"No, the human brain_ shouldn't_ be able to handle it for more than a few minutes. That's the only reason it nearly killed you, Rose. You're human." - Jack shot Rose a look, and she looked down guiltily. - "I'm surprised you held on so long, especially since not only did you see it, but absorbed it as well... Actually, I've been wondering about that. I keep thinking of _how _you could have survived. It should have still killed you after I took it out of you," he admitted guiltily, scratching the back of his head.

"And you still took it out of me!" she cried in horror, cutting him off. "You knew I would die, but you still let it kill you too!"

"Well, I couldn't leave it in you!" he defended himself, failing to notice she knew yet another thing she shouldn't. "I couldn't have handled watching that! But anyway, since we're telling stories and Bad Wolf seems to be out in the air, do you think it has anything to do-"

"Bad Wolf, weren't those the words that were following us?" Jack cut him off.

"Yeah," Rose told him. "That was me. I sent those words to follow us so I knew to come back. I was the one sending out Bad Wolf, it was a message. It's just easier referring to what happened to me than saying 'that little bit of Time Vortex left in me'."

"But I took it all out of you!" the Doctor cried.

"Anti-venom," she told him simply, deciding that if she was going to tell him soon anyway, she may as well let him know. "You said it yourself. I was dying. So the TARDIS gave a little of it back to me to reverse the effects and stabilise it. Like anti-venom."

"But… you never said anything…"

"I only just found out a month ago," she told him, subtly slipping that hint in. "Besides, nothing happened till we met Donna. It was dormant until then… And… after that I just didn't want to worry you…"

"Worry me!" he cried. "I've been going out of my mind!" He ran a hand through his hair before looking her seriously in the eyes. "Rose, I need to know these things. Yes, because I worry, because I want you safe. But you can tell me anything. I've told you everything-" he saw the look his three companions shot him. "-almost everything," he amended. "But you can tell me, good or bad… or even just plain weird, as the case may be," he said breaking out of the touching solemn moment with cheek, like he usually did.

Rose smiled at him, his eyes glistening as much as hers. She felt proud of him. He hardly ever showed that kind of emotion when it was just them, let alone with company. Hearing him like this, she realised how truly desperate he was. She remembered how he admitted his fear that she was drifting away and moving on. - In retrospect, it probably wasn't such a good idea to be hugging Jack as much as she had been.

But he was right. She could tell him anything. He needed to know. And she was going to tell him. They were more or less on the subject… what better a time?

The atmosphere between them thickened as they kept their gazes locked. She opened her mouth to tell him…

.

Suddenly they were distracted by the sound of Jacks Manipulator beeping. And the moment was broken. He started pressing buttons and looking at it. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it," he said.

"Patch it through to the laptop," the Doctor said leaning forward to grab it. But the look on Jacks face stilled them all.

"Uh, since we're telling stories - openly or not - um, there's something I haven't told you," he said sheepishly. He leaned over and attached the Manipulator to the laptop with a thin cord out of its side. "Just… don't freak," he pleaded.

A moment later the files were patched through to the laptop and the screen showed the large honeycomb 'T' logo of Torchwood.

"Torchwood…" Rose whispered. The word alone sending anger through her body tot eh point she was shaking. "You work for Torchwood!"

Jack knew what she had lost. He had seen the list of the dead and knew that her mother had been announced 'Missing, presumed dead'. He had vowed to change it around and make it better. He had felt so sick that for so long he had been involved in an organisation that would one day come to kill his best friend's mother.

"I swear to you, it's different," he told them. "It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now." He knew that they would love his team if they only met them. But for now they could only see the word Torchwood.

"Everything Torchwood did and you're a part of it?" the Doctor snapped at him.

"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Warf," he defended himself in a low voice. He switched between looking at them both in the eye, but he mainly focused on the Doctor. He knew that he would be the hardest to convince… but he could hardly stand to see the pain surfacing in Rose's eyes. "I rebuilt it. I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you… in your honour." The Doctor gave him a hard but accepting look.

"Torchwood," was all Rose could say.

"I'm - I'm so sorry about your mother, Rose," he said quietly.

"I'm sure she's happy," Rose convinced herself. "She's got Dad back, and she was pregnant… she would have had the baby by now."

When Jack looked at her in concern, the Doctor stepped in to explain. "Her mother didn't die, Jack. She was taken through to another universe where Rose's father was still alive. That universe's Jackie had died the first time we came through… Our Jackie just kind of… took her place. But the walls are closed, we can't see her again. Her or Mickey." Jack nodded. The Doctor sniggered when he remembered Torchwood's motto. "If it's alien it's ours… Bloody Torchwood."

"Hey! You can talk," Jack snapped back. "I've read the files. Technically it's your fault it was created."

"What were we supposed to do? Let the werewolf kill Queen Victoria?" he exclaimed. Sensing that the hostility was over, Jack grinned cheekily and turned to Rose.

"And what about you, _Dame_ Tyler? Running around Scotland _naked_! For shame!"

"Hey, it's not my fault they were such prudes! Besides, I thought we were going to a concert in the _19_70's not the _18_70's." She shot an accusing glare at the Doctor. He just shrugged.

"Don't look at me, as I seem to recall you enjoyed it. And you scored a tenner in that bet."

"Oh, what bet?" Martha groaned, remembering the last one.

"I bet him that I could get Queen Vicky to say 'we are not amused'," she grinned. Martha audibly sighed in relief.

But once again, the tension in the air rose as thy turned back to the screen and opened the file. It was a video attachment. A woman appeared on the screen and looked seriously at the camera.

"If I haven't returned to my desk by 2200 hours, this file will be emailed to Torchwood," she said in a low voice. "Which means, if you're watching this, then I'm…" she couldn't say the word. "Anyway., the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network."

The screen changed to show a bunch of satellites surrounding the Earth.

"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor asked.

"I've got Archangel," Martha said pulling out her phone. "Everyone's got it."

"it's the mobile phone network," Jack explained. "'Cause look, it's gone worldwide. They've got 15 satellites in orbit. Even other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."

The Doctor took Martha's phone and pointed his screwdriver at it. "It's in the phones!" he exclaimed. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist! Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." He banged the phone against the table and suddenly it emitted the same four beat rhythms. "There it is!" he cried holding the phone out. "That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious."

"What is it, mind control?" Martha asked.

"It's too subtle," Rose said before the Doctor could even open his mouth. She just wanted to drown out the horrid noise, giveaways be damned. "If it were any stronger people would notice it. They'd start to question it."

"Exactly!" the Doctor said. He was too excited about finding the answer and hand grown used to Rose being smarter that he didn't question it himself. "But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code… 'Vote Saxon. Believe in me.' Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me. 'Cause like the Time Lady - even with her attempts to shield her mind - I still should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. Back when I became this actually," he indicated to his body. "But the signal cancelled him out."

Rose started at that idea. The master had been here before her mother had even left. And that idea made more and more ideas swirl through her head before she had to sit down, only vaguely aware of the conversation around her. Of him taking the phone and the laptop apart, or taking the TARDIS key from around her neck and giving it to him for him to turn into a perception filter. She didn't pay attention as Martha struggled to focus on the Doctor with it around his neck.

She looked up to see his swaying adorably, he was fuzzy around the edges, but her mind didn't wonder from him like she knew it should. She wanted him too much.

"And back again," he said pulling the key off. "See? It shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed. He paused, trying to think of a suitable metaphor. "Oh, I know what it's like! It's like - it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That what it's like. Come on!"

"Doctor," her shaky voice stopped him in his tracks as he made to run out. "He's been here for two years… Mum's only been gone for one. He's getting to Martha through her family. What if he tried to get at Mum when he first got back? He knows about me, he would have researched…" she fought the fear that tried to overwhelm her, and the Doctor walked over to crouch next to her. He opened his mouth to comfort her and tell her that Jackie would be fine, but he was cut off.

"She's right Doctor," Jack said. "The Master's going to use every thing he has at his despoil. Any scrap of information he can get on any of us would be gold. He found out about Martha's family, he's nearly got all of them locked up to try and draw her in. he sent my team off so we wouldn't have help. He knows I can't die. What if he found out every single one of our secrets and used them against us? He will use all he can, and he has a heck of a lot. I know you used to be friends, but I really think he wants hut hurt you, Doctor."

As he said this, he wasn't looking at the Doctor. He was looking at Rose. He had made a fair point… but it wasn't the Doctor he was trying to make the point too. When he saw the fear and guilt in Rose's eyes - he knew he had succeeded.

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><p><em><strong>Mini Cliff-hanger. Sorry. But yep, Rose is at snapping point.<strong>_

_**I quite liked writing this chapter. Showing Rose relenting a little and giving him hints. This chapter really was too sad, so I HAD to put in some jokes. If I were in a bad situation, I would try and make everyone feel better. And trust Rose to Joke about Jack. Best private joke ever!**_


	63. The Sound of Drums,  Secrets Out

_**Hey! Sorry this one took so long. I'm kind of writing at least 4 stories at once and I keep alternating between them all. And we've just started renovations on the house. We currently have no water! We have to walk round the corner to a friend's house to go to the bathroom.**_

_**But anyway, this is the chapter that is long awaited, it may not be as big as what everyone expected, but I do aim for slightly realistic. Hopefully it will be good anyway. Enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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**Secrets Out**

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"Look, Rose," the Doctor said gently, taking her hand in his comfortingly. "I know he'll try and get all the information he could. But he won't have hurt her. She's safe." Still holding her hand, he stood up and took her with him. He went to walk out again but she pulled on his arm and tugged him back.

"No, just stop," she said firmly. She turned to her friends. "You two put on the keys and wait outside the door." They nodded their understanding, silently wishing her luck, and left. She turned back to the confused man before her. "Doctor, I need to talk to you."

"Rose, now's-"

"Not really the best time," she cut him off. "Yeah I know. But this is really, _really_ important. And you _have_ to know. Now."

"If this is about… um, if this is about how you feel about me then I – ah, I already know. I can remember being human," he said awkwardly.

"I know, I heard you telling Jack," she said simply, only just holding back the smile.

"What, but how?"

"Jack kinda set you up," she told him with a sheepish grin. "He didn't actually turn off the com. Just stopped our transmissions from coming through."

"Oh…" he said realizing that she would have heard him say that he loved her. "And – and you're not mad?"

"I'm overlooking it," she told him. "Because there's something I haven't told you. And I should have told you right away. But I didn't… because I'm scared."

Looking at her, his tense expression softened. If she was scared he would always be there for her.

"I'm scared Doctor," she continued. "I'm – I'm scared of _me_. And I'm scared of how you're going to react when I tell you. I'm scared of what might happen…  
>Doctor I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise that when I tell you, we're not going to waste time worrying about me. That we're going to go right out there and stop the Master. Because the last thing you need right now is me distracting you, but you <em>need<em> to know.  
>I need you to promise that you won't hate me…"<p>

"I could never hate you," he told her softly. He tried to push away the fear that was slowly creeping into his mind. But it wasn't just his own fear; it was also the fear of the Time Lady.

"And most of all, I need you to promise me that you wont panic," she continued desperately.

"Rose this isn't sounding too good."

Her words were making him extremely uneasy. He took another step close to her, they were only a few inches away from each other now and he could clearly see the panic in her eyes.

"Promise me!" she cried desperately, grabbing his arms. "Promise me you _won't_ panic. Because I've barely been keeping it together and I think I might fall apart if you panic."

"Okay, I promise to try my hardest. Now Rose, what's wrong?" he said holding her arms in a calming gesture.

"I don't know if it's wrong… but, it's not right," she said. "It's not just Bad Wolf anymore. It's been happening for so long. Building up over the year. We've had so many warnings but I've been so scared that I ignored them and tried to make you forget about them. I didn't want you to worry about me over nothing… but it's not nothing. You remember the day I wasn't feeling well and when you came back I was unconscious?" He nodded. "I said I don't remember much after you left… but I do. I was still conscious for… I don't know, an hour… But um… It hurt. It felt like I was on fire, like I was being ripped apart, slowly cell by cell. After a while I couldn't handle it any more and I passed out. And when I woke up I felt… different. I can't explain it. And my heart…"

She froze, still unable to tell him. She could hardly look him in the eye.

"Rose…?" he said gently.

Finally, picking up the courage, she looked up at him and tentatively took his hands and placed them on her chest. A hand on each heart. His eyes widened when he felt them, but he didn't say anything.

She could tell that he was trying to stay calm for her.

"Oh, well… that explains a lot," he breathed rather weakly after a long moment. One of his hands came up to run through his hair and the other brushed across her collarbone to feel both her hearts again before trailing down her arm to hold her hand.

"What does it mean Doctor? Am - am I like you?"

"It's a possibility. Even more possible considering this Time Lady presence is strong enough that it could be following me. And she keeps forcing her emotions on me," he looked at her accusingly, but it was more out of amusement.

"Hey, you're the one that opened the link. That was very rude of you trying to barge into my mind like that!"

"I was getting emotions well before then," he laughed. "You're the one who doesn't know how to block your mind. You're so loud!" Playfully she wacked him on the shoulder. He couldn't help his memory drifting back to the last time he had invaded her mind. Back in the hotel, when he had seen her dream. A dream of her writhing in the floor in agony. It almost reminded him of how it felt when he had turned… "Hang on," he said, his voice becoming low. "Did you say it was like your cells were being ripped apart?" She nodded. "Oh Rose! Oh my Rose!" he said taking her in his arms. He felt her hearts beating against his and suddenly understood why she had been holding him back lately. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…"

"Cellular reprogramming…" she said quietly. "It's not too bad," she lied weakly. "Will anything else happen? Will I keep changing?"

"I don't know," he told her. "I don't know how far it's gone or what caused it. But I do know how much that hurts. And yes, I'm scared. But we'll find out what it is and I won't let it hurt you anymore…"

"I've hesitated a month, I think I can handle waiting a few more days," she tried to smile. Yes, she already knew how it happened. But she knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he knew for sure himself.

She untangled herself from his arms but kept a hold of his hand. "Come on. Right now, let's go kick some evil Time Lord butt."

"Rose, wait!" he said. Rose had begun walking and with a gentle tug he bought her twirling back into his arms. And he kissed her. At first she was frozen in surprise, but it didn't take long for her to melt into the soft, passionate kiss. "I love you," he told her. "I know you heard me, but I said I would tell you… So I did. I love you, Rose Tyler."

"I love you, too. But you already know that. After all I said it enough back in 1913." He winced at her words, despite the cheeky glint he could see in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Don't be," she told him. "I actually quite liked the way things turned out." He looked at her like she had lost her sanity along with her human DNA. "Well, besides the few bad parts."

Still clutching hands they turned and walked slowly back towards the others. He saw her tongue sweep across her lips and heard the small stifled moan. He couldn't help but grin. "Still getting used to those advanced taste buds?" he teased.

"Yep," she replied. "I'm being to understand that oral fixation. I licked the _wall_ the other day just to see what I could get off it!" The Doctor chuckled at her. "It's crazy how different the senses are. All new sounds and scents and tastes. I'm just glad that it's not advanced like those stupid vampire depictions, this is bad enough of sensory overload without being able to hear a whisper a hundred meters away."

"Mmm, I guess it would be a little difficult suddenly having it thrust upon you. When I was human, I was so disorientated because my senses were weaker. I just didn't know it. It was such a relief to have them back. How's everything else going?"

"Well, I haven't tested regeneration yet," she teased. She laughed a little when she saw that this didn't amuse him in the least. "You're going to have to teach me to block my mind," she told him. "The TARDIS isn't protecting me anymore. The Master will find me in no time."

He nodded just as they walked outside. They could just see the forms of Jack and Martha grinning like idiots in their peripheral vision.

"About time," Jack grinned. Then he turned to Martha. "And _that,_ Martha, is how you get two complete idiots to open up in three simple steps."

The two Time Lords just blinked at him while he and Martha smirked.

"Really should have known," the Doctor sighed. He took his key and placed it around his neck, as did Rose. "Right, don't run. Don't shout," he warned them. "Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."

"Like ghosts," Jack whispered.

"Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts."

They were rather solemn as they walked through the dark streets, unseen by all. But part of them was brimming with joy. Not even the horrible circumstances could tarnish the Doctor's joy of what he had just discovered. Rose had just made two of his biggest dreams possible. And he loved her all the more for it.

**?...DW…?**

It was only a few hours later, in the early dawn that they watched as the Master spoke with the American President. They only got snippets of the conversation, but from what they could make out, the President was taking over first contact, and the Master was placating him. They knew he was planning something behind it, and the only information they found was where and when it was held.

But nothing truly interesting happened until a van rolled by. It stopped not far from them and the master did a small hop and jump and laughed.

"Hi, guys!" he called delightedly. A yelling Jones family were being restrained as they were dragged from the van and then proceeded to try and attack him, despite the handcuffs.

"Oh my God," Martha breathed. Both Rose and the Doctor rested a hand on her arm to keep her from going forward.

"Don't move," the Doctor warned in a low voice.

"But…"

"Don't." All they could do was watch as the struggling, fighting family were transferred to a Land Rover.

"I'm going to kill him," Martha whispered, there was no venom in her voice.

"What's say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?"

"Now that sounds like Torchwood," the Doctor growled. Rose gave him a little nudge. If she could forgive Jack, then surely he could.

"Still a good plan," he said.

"He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility," the Doctor told them. "I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him." He looked at Rose and almost instantly knew what she was thinking; he could read it on her face. "You've always been my responsibility and I wouldn't have it any other way," he told her softly. "And I am not letting you anywhere near him." he had to suppress a shudder as he remember what he had said on the phone. The statement was bad enough _before_ he knew it was Rose. He would have to keep her hidden. He refused to let the Master get his hands on her. Jack had been right. The Master would use anything against him, and he would most certainly use Rose.

Jack turned to his Manipulator and started tapping buttons, finding the information they needed. "Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at 58.2 North and 10.02 East."

Rose felt a little shiver run down her spine at the name Valiant. It stirred a memory in her. One she didn't like. '_The Valiant Child who will die in battle so very soon._' She would never run away from anything… but right now, what with the Toclafane and the warning of the Beast ringing in her ears, all she wanted to do was take the Doctor's hand and run screaming. But she couldn't do that. Not now.

"How do we get onboard?" Martha asked.

"Does that thing work as a teleport?" the Doctor asked Jack.

"Since you revamped it, yea. Co-ordinates set."

The Doctor made sure that they were all touching the Vortex Manipulator before activating it. And they were gone.

Next thing they knew that were on a ship, falling into the walls with a groan.

"Ugh, I'm glad I was unconscious last time," Rose groaned.

"Oh, that's rough," Martha winced.

"I've had worse nights," Jack growled, he let out a yell as he cracked his neck. "Welcome to the Valiant."

"It's dawn," Rose said as she looked out the porthole window. Martha joined her.

"Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"

"A ship for the 21st century," Jack told them. "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."

.

They ran through the halls of the Valiant, searching for the room that the master would be holding the first contact. Rose could feel a funny tingling in her body, it was so familiar. And the more they ran down one corridor, the more she could hear an almost kind of singing. It was a sad, weak song… but the feel of it was familiar. It was the TARDIS. She stopped and the Doctor seemed to stop just after her, hearing it too.

"We've no time of sightseeing!" Jack hissed.

"No, no. Wait. Shh, shh, shh. Cant you hear it?" Rose nodded in reply. She tried to smile like he was, but something didn't feel right.

"Hear what?" Jack said in bewilderment. The Doctor only held up his had and listened. Rose realised that she could possibly hear the TARDIS better than him! It was quite possible, considering she had been one with the TARDIS before.

"Doctor, my family's on board," Martha snipped, striding past them.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor suddenly cried. "This way!" Then they ran down a different corridor. He threw open some doors to reveal the TARDIS. "Oh, at last!" she cried in delight.

"Oh, yes!" Martha squealed.

"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack questioned. Rose's reaction, however was quite different. This close to the TARDIS, she could feel it, she could feel her pain. Her face paled.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no," she whispered. "Doctor, wait!" she cried just as he grabbed the handle. He looked back and saw the look in her eyes. He knew that something was wrong. Was it the TARDIS, or had the Master found her? Slowly he turned back and opened the door, prepared for something bad, and they all rushed in.

They were met by the sight of a TARDIS bathed in red. Her usual noised were weak and pained. She chimed away dully. And the console was surrounded by a large cage. Rose didn't know what it was, but she could feel how wrong it was. It made her guts clench more than when she had first seen Jack. (She had been around him a while now and the feeling had lessened). But this was purely wrong.

"What the hell has he done?" Jack cried.

"Don't touch it," the Doctor warned them.

"I'm not going to."

"What's he done though? Sounds like it's… sick," Martha said.

"She is," Rose told her. "She's in pain. And it hurts!" Being this close to the mutilated TARDIS was giving her a headache. She hadn't had a headache since she had first changed… and it was a bad one too.

"It can't be," the Doctor said in a low growling voice. "No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."

"Doctor, what is it?" Martha asked.

"He's cannibalised the TARDIS!" he said venomously.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jack said in worried disbelief.

"It's a paradox machine," the Doctor growled. He ducked down and looked at some of the dials. "As soon as this hits red, it activates," he told them. "At this speed it will trigger," he grabbed Jack's arm and looked at the time on his watch, "at 8:02."

"First contact is at 8:00 and then two minutes later…" Jack said.

"What's it for?" Martha asked. She had noticed how sick Rose was looking. "What does it do?"

"More importantly, can you stop it?" Jack put in.

"Not until I know what it's doing. Touch the wrong button and blow up the solar system."

"Then we have to stop the Master," Rose said. She didn't want the crazy Time Lord hurting her Doctor any more than he already had.

"Yeah. How do we stop him?"

"Oh, I've got a way," he said casually. He looked up at their surprised faces. "Sorry, didn't I tell you?" He grinned cheekily at them. Without another word, he took Rose by the hand and led them all out. He was going to find the Master and put a stop to this _now!_


	64. The Sound of Drums,  Get Out

**Get Out**

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.

Quietly they found their way into the main deck of the Valiant as the American President, President Winters, was addressing the world.

"This plan, you going to tell us?" Jack whispered to the Doctor.

The Doctor held up the key he was wearing. "If I can get this around the Master's neck… cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me… you've got a key."

"Yes, Sir," Jack said.

"I'll get him," Martha assured him.

"Wait," Rose hissed, placing a hand on his arm to stop him moving forward. "What if I make a distraction, physical or… other," she looked directly at him when she said this so he would have no doubt what she meant.

"No!" he cried, he flinched hoping he hadn't been too loud. "That would only alert him more. Besides, he knows about you, but he doesn't know that it _is_ you. The longer I can keep him away from you the better." Rose nodded in resignation. Slowly he began to walk around towards the Master.

"And I ask you now," President Winters was saying, "I ask of the human race, to join me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane." He spread his arm out as four Toclafane appeared around him.

Rose had to bite back the fear that surged through her. But she couldn't stop the telepathic reaction. Fear flashed through her mind, out to anything that could hear. The Doctor shot a sharp glace at her as he saw the image of her nightmare in his head. He gave her a worried look, because of both the vision and the Master. As it was, the Master had felt it, but he only turned his head slightly in her direction, a look if confusion and excitement on his face.

Rose sucked in a breath, preying that he wouldn't see her.

"My name is Arthur Coleman Winters," the President addressed the Toclafane. "President-Elect of the United States of America and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon.

"You're not the Master," a child like male voice came from one of the spheres. They seemed to buzz about in agitation.

"We like the Mr Master," said another with a high pitched childish female voice.

"We don't like you," said a third Toclafane, another male.

"I… can be Master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you if that is God's will."

"Man is stupid."

"Master is our friend."

"Where's my Master, pretty please?"

"Oh, alright then. It's me!" Saxon cried, jumping up from his chair. "Ta-da!" he laughed. "Sorry! Sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile, is it the aftershave, is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy!"

"Saxon, what are you talking about?" President Winters said in annoyance.

Suddenly the Master grew deadly serious. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam. Starting with you. Kill him," he directed the last part to the Toclafane.

Suddenly one of the Toclafane came over, spikes bared as they had been in Rose's dream. But instead of spitting one of the spikes at the President, it shot him with a laser and disintegrated before them. Chaos erupted around them as everyone tried to escape, but Saxon's men pulled out their weapons. The master clapped his hands and laughed manically… just as he had in Rose's dream.

"Guards!" he called, running up the stairs as guards ordered people not to move. "No then!" he cried delightedly. "Peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully." This was the point that the Doctor chose to act. He lunged forward only to be grabbed by the guards. "Stop him!" the Master called at the same time. The Doctor was forced to his knees. Rose had to hold back a horrified gasp in case they hadn't been seen yet. "We meet at last, Doctor," the Master grinned. "Oh! I love saying that!"

"Stop this! Stop it now!" the Doctor cried, trying to distract him from the obvious waves of worry that he could feel emanating from Rose. She really had no idea how to control herself when she was emotional.

"As if a perception filter's gonna work on me," he sneered. He looked over to where the other's stood. "Oh, and look, it's the girlie, the freak and the lover. Although, I'm not sure which one I'm really calling the freak." Jack rushed at Saxon, but Saxon held up some sort of thick metal tube and shot Jack. He fell to the floor dead, Rose and Martha dropped to his side. "Laser Screwdriver," he grinned holding it up to show them. "Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"

"Master, just calm down," the Doctor told him. "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself…"

The master sighed in exasperation before turning to the camera. "Oh, so excuse me, little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." He walked over to stand before the Doctor. "Let him go," he ordered. The guards pushed the Doctor to the floor.

"It's that sound, the sound in your head," he said desperately. "What if I could help?"

"Oh, how to shut him up?" the Master said sarcastically. "I know. Memory Lane!" he sat down on the stares facing the Doctor. "Professor Lazarus, remember him? And his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. Even encouraged Torchwood with their Ghost Shift attempts. Tried to separate you from the one you care most about. Something changed fate a little though, never mind. But if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver… But, ooh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do!" suddenly he jumped up and ran over to a silver case. He opened it to reveal the jar with the Doctor's hand in it. "I've got his hand! And if Lazarus can make himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?"

He pointed the Laser Screwdriver at the Doctor and a beam hit him. The Doctor screamed and convulsed as his genetic make up began to alter. Jack revived just in time to see what was happening and grab Rose's wrist as she desperately tried to get over to the Doctor. With his free hand he tore his Vortex Manipulator from the arm holding Rose and passed it to Martha.

"Teleport," he told her.

"I can't," Martha whispered.

"We can't stop him," he said. "You have to get Rose out of here. Go. Get out!"

.

Finally Rose managed to pull her arm from Jacks grasp and ran to the Doctor just as he sunk to the floor. He looked so, so terribly old. But she cupped his cheek and looked at him with sad, tender eyes. "Doctor," she whispered.

Martha came over to them and helped him sit up a little. The master ignored Rose, and moved right on to the target that he could actually taunt. "Aw, she's a would-be doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison!" The Doors slid open and the guards dragged Francine, her father - Clive, and Tish in, guns pressed to the backs of their necks.

"Mum," she breathed.

"I'm so sorry," Francine sobbed.

"The Toclafane," the Doctor growled at the master with a laboured breath. "What are they?" Saxon knelt before him and gestured that he couldn't hear. "What are they?" the Doctor repeated.

"Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break," he replied softly, placing his hand splayed over the centre of the Doctor's chest.

"Is it time?" the girly Toclafane interrupted them.

"Is it ready?"

"Is the machine singing?"

Saxon stood and checked his watch. "Two minutes past," he said. He ran up the steps to join his wife and faced the camera. "So, Earthlings! Basically, um… End of the world." He held the Laser Screwdriver into the air. "Here. Come. The drums!"

With a click Rogue Trader's 'Voodoo Child' played over the intercom and the sky split. From the red splitting heaves, thousands upon thousands of the spheres flew down into the sky. And the Master and a dancing Lucy Saxon ran to watch from the windows.

"How many do you think?" he asked his wife.

"I don't know," she replied.

"Six billion." He switched the speakers to project outside. "Down you go, kids!" he called to the billions of Toclafane. The Toclafane zoomed down. "Shall we decimate them?" he asked Lucy. "That sounds good. Nice word, decimate. Remove one-tenth of the population!" he ordered the Toclafane. He watched on in glee as the complied.

.

The Doctor turned to Martha wan pulled her down so he could whisper in her ear. "I have a plan," he said. "Travel the world, pretend to be looking for something to kill him. But talk to people. Tell them about me. Tell them to use the countdown for the launch and think of me at that moment. You have to take Rose with you. She'll refuse to go, but I'm about to do something that will disorientate her for a few moments. Use that time, and get out!"

Martha nodded, a tear sliding down her cheek. Then he turned to Rose.

"I'm not leaving you," she cried, her voice cracking.

"You don't have to," he told her, only slightly lying. "But I need to protect you. If you'll let me, I can bond us. You'll always be able to feel me, talk to me. I can hide you from him. Please."

Tears running down her cheeks, she nodded. The Doctor reached up and placed his hands on her temples and pressed his forehead against hers. A moment later she felt a crack run through her head. At first it was painful, but then she felt her mind being taken in the warm embrace of the Doctor's. She could feel him there, swirling around her, engulfing her, becoming a part of her. When he with drew, she could still feel him with her. But she was very dizzy. She felt like she were about to fall over or even throw up.

'_I love you,_' she heard the thought in her mind. It wasn't obviously his voice, but she knew that it was him. That was the last thing she saw before there was a hand grabbed her. And with a flash of blue, she was gone.

.

Once the pain and dizziness wore of she saw that she was in a field on the ground, Martha had gotten up beside her. The Valiant was just visible in the sky above them. And Toclafane swarmed around them, ravaging the city… the whole Earth.

It only took her a few seconds to realise what had happened. "No!" she cried jumping up and rushing to Martha. "Take me back! Send me back!" she cried at her friend. "I _have_ to get back to him. He needs me! Doctor!"

Martha was trying to restrain her, hold her back and a keep the manipulator away from her at all times. "Rose! Rose!" she shouted, shaking the hysterical blonde Time Lady roughly. "You can't go back. Here's nothing we can do up there! We have a job to do and if you go back, Saxon will use you against him! Rose, we're coming back."

"We can save him? We're coming back?" she asked, wiping her tears as she calmed a little.

"We're coming back," she reaffirmed.

Taking a deep shaking breath, Rose squared her shoulders. She knew on some level that Martha was right. And she could still feel him there, strongly in her mind. She would do anything she could to save him.

Taking one last look at the decimated city, the two girls fled.

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><p><em><strong>He he he. Only one more story left till I move on to a new story for season 4!<strong>_

_**Little intense. But let's face it, there is no way that Rose would ever intentionally leave the Doctor, even if he told her she had to do something. We've already seen that.**_

_**I like Martha as a character, but to me she is always pining and wining over the Doctor and about Rose and it throws her character off. She falls in love too fast and it seems really forced. Especially when she blames the Doctor for whatever goes wrong the second she can. That's why I've always liked the Rose/Doctor relationship more (that and they are adorable and the actors had great onscreen chemistry). I don't hate her, but I know that some people do. So I hope this story has helped you like her a little more. Certainly helped me. =D**_

_**Please review! I have a challenge to see if I can reach 1000 reviews!  
><strong>_


	65. Last of the Time Lords, Legends

_**Hello! I'm back. Sorry, full on at home at the moment. I'm having fun with this, LOL, Rose. Just to point it out since you will notice it in the first sentence that Rose had regenerated. I actually reckon that she would be ever so slightly inspired by the 9th Doctor. Plus a total bad ass, while still being sweet and kind.**_

_**Anyway, I thought I would give you all a birthday present… Well, reverse Birthday present. I turned 19 today. Yay me!**_

_**So, enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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***Last of the Time Lords***

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**Legends**

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The cold night air whipped at their faces and the sea sprayed up at them. Rose pulled a hair-tie off her milky white wrist and tied up her long black hair. Martha looked up at her wearily.

"Almost home," she said.

"Almost," Rose agreed with a slightly Irish accent. She wasn't at all used to the way her lips and tongue worked. She knew that Martha wasn't used to it either. She cast her bright blue eyes to the shore where they saw a figure moving a lamp. This was it. Today's actions would finally, after a horrible long year, bring her home.

Soon they were pulling up onto shore and their guides where dragging the boat along the shallows. "Thank you," Rose said to them. The second her feet touched ground she felt relief wash through her. This was nearly over. She felt a second wave of relief wash through her, but this time it came from her bond with the Doctor. He knew she was back and safe and that soon they would be together again. Soon.

Then the two women jumped out and ran through the water up to the man with the lamp. He smiled when he saw them, hope lighting his face as it did so many when they saw the infamous duo.

"What's your name, then?" Martha said. Rose had given up shooting her looks when she acted like this. She had watched over the year as the war stricken world hardened the sweet girl into one who knew how to survive the horrors she'd seen.

Rose had changed too, but that was to be expected of regeneration. She hadn't been hardened by they year, she had learned to fight it. She knew that by tomorrow, none of this would have ever happened. In this incarnation she had become, to quote Martha, more 'badass'.

"Tom Milligan," the man replied. "No need to ask who you two are. The famous Martha Jones and Rose Tyler…" he looked at Rose and cocked his head. "Although, I always heard you were blonde."

"I used to be," Rose smiled wearily.

"A disguise?"

"Yeah, something like that," she laughed. It kind of was really, but now it was the last thing she needed. They needed the Master to be able to recognise her. The regeneration had not made things easier on them.

Tom nodded. "How long since you were last in Britain?"

"365 days," Martha answered him. "It's been a long year."

Tom turned led them up the beach. "So what's the plan?" he asked.

"This Professor Docherty. We need to see her," Rose told him.

"Can you get us there?" Martha asked bluntly.

"She works in a repair shed, Nuclear Plant 7. I can get you inside. What's all this for? What's so important about her?"

"Sorry, Tom. The less you know the better. We'd be putting you at risk," Rose told him gently.

"There's a lot depending on you two," he told them seriously. "You're a bit of a legend."

"What does the legend say?" Martha scoffed. They had been told such things before. Neither believed themselves to be that important. But they meant hope to the billion or so people left.

"That you sailed the Atlantic," he said. "Walked across America. That you're the only people to get out of Japan alive."

"Yeah, _alive_," Rose scoffed under her breath. That depended on how you looked at it.

"Martha Jones and Rose Tyler, they say, 'They're going to save the world'… Bit late for that," he said darkly, walking up to a truck.

"How come you can drive?" Martha asked. "Don't you get stopped?"

"Medical staff. Used to be in paediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a licence to travel so I can help out at the labour camps."

"Great," Martha sighed. "I'm travelling with a doctor." At this Rose burst out laughing and Martha joined in a little. Tom looked at the two of them almost in shock. It had probably been a very long time since he had heard anyone genuinely laugh.

"Martha was training to be a doctor, before me and my… err, Doctor… picked her up," Rose told him.

"What about you?" he asked her.

"I was a traveller… still am I guess," she shrugged. She would never again call herself a shop girl. She had enough confidence to do so. But the strongest connection she and the Doctor had this far away was to show each other images with their minds, not talk. And at times that they would both be terribly miserable, they would share favourite memories. After watching herself from someone else's point of view, she could never compare herself to that tired, trapped shop girl again.

She couldn't help the grin spread across her face as she jumped in the truck. "Story goes," Tom went on, "that you two are the only ones on the planet who can kill him. That you two, and only you, can kill the Master stone dead."

Rose and Martha looked at each other. They knew that they couldn't kill anyone. Ever. "Let's just drive," Martha snapped at him. They couldn't afford to tell him the truth… and they couldn't afford to let him lose hope.

**?...DW…?**

It took a little effort to hold back his groan as the Doctor heard the voice over announce the Master's arrival. Not long after the voice over came that a new song began to play. If he were in a better mood he probably would have found the song rather catchy. Scissor Sisters, they had quite amusing songs.

But at the moment it was just plain annoying. Especially since the Master was the only one in the entire world who seemed to be enjoying himself. It was barely past dawn, he had been tapping into the Archangel Network all night. But things only got worse when the Master rung the bell that signalled he had to come out or there would be hell to pay. Next thing he knew he had been shoved into a wheelchair and was being spun across the deck. As usual he feigned indifference.

He hardly ever let the Master see anything. He was almost too afraid that if he did, the Master would know about Rose. He always did have an eerily accurate intuition. And he couldn't let the Master know about Rose. They were so close now. It was almost over.

Rose was the only thing keeping him moderately sane up here. He could always feel her with him. Sometimes, if they had enough energy they would send images to each other. He had recently clued her in about Professor Docherty. But… she was hiding something. He'd had a scare a few moths back. A searing pain had shot through the bond. It was so strong that even the Master had felt a glimmer of it. And she had been on the other side of the world at the time. He had a horrible feeling he knew what had happened.

"It's ready to rise, Doctor," the Master breathed after setting them at a window so he could see the masses of Toclafane swarming through the air. As usual, he said nothing. "It's good, isn't it? Isn't it, good? Anything? No? Anything?" He sighed when he failed to elicit a response and waved his had in front of the Doctor's withered face. He watched out the window a moment. "Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they, those _Toclafane_? Ever since you worked out what they really are…" Still no reaction. Only a blank stare. "They say Martha Jones and Rose Tyler have come back home. Now why would they do that?"

"Leave them alone," the Doctor hissed, saying his first words to the Master in a week or two.

"But you said something to Martha, didn't you? On the day I took control. What did you tell her?" The Doctor still looked blankly ahead. "Alright then, what about the Time Lady who seems to only blip up in my head once in a while? No? Well then, how about your beloved Rose? You did something with her… a telepathic connection? No, that would have killed her. But I did feel something that moment. What did you do?"

"I have only one thing to say to you," the Doctor told him. "You know what it is."

"Oh, no you don't!" he growled, pushing the wheelchair away until the Doctor hit the wall. "Come on, people!" he cried. "What are we doing? Launch Day in twenty-four hours!"

This was it. They were so close. They had to try something now. And if it didn't work, then at least it would distract him away from Rose and Martha for a little while. Seeing Francine picking something off the floor near by, he subtly stuck out three fingers. He saw her nod and knew that the message would be passed around.

It was time to make one more stand before the big finale.

**?...DW…?**

"All over the Earth, those things," Martha said nodding to a large statue of the Master that stood near by.

"He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore!" Rose scoffed. "And I thought the Doctor was vain!"

"Best to keep down," Tom warned them, holding out a hand to keep them low. He went and peered over the rocks. "Here we are." Rose and Martha joined him to see a huge field filled with missiles. "The entire South Coast of England… converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labour every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for metal. Building a fleet out of scrap."

"You should see Russia," Martha said mournfully. "All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait."

"100,00 rockets, ready for war," Rose said bitterly.

"War? With who?"

"The rest of the universe," she told him. "We've been out there, in space. Back before the Master stole our home, err, transport. There are billions of different civilisations out there, with no idea of what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all. And I've been working pretty hard to keep them from that for the last few years. I'm not having him ruin it."

"You've been in space?" he said incredulously.

"Problem with that?" Martha asked, her sarcasm bordering on amusement.

"No!" he said in bewilderment. "No, just uh… Wow. Anything else I should know?"

"I've met Shakespeare," Martha said as if it were an every day thing.

"I'm not even human," Rose said in the same tone. Tom's look of bewilderment grew. But it didn't last long when two Toclafane came up behind them. Tom turned to face them as Rose and Martha stayed still as they could.

"Identify, little man," one of them said to Tom.

"I - I've got a licence," he stuttered pulling some ID from his pocket and holding up his hands. "Tomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel. I was just checking fo-"

"Soon the rockets will fly and everyone will need medicine," the second Toclafane said in its sickeningly sweet mechanical voice. "You'll be so busy." And laughing, the two evil spheres flew off into the ship yard.

It wasn't until they were completely gone that Rose and Martha moved and stood up. Tom turned to face them in confusion. "But… they didn't see you," he said.

Martha took the key from around her neck and held it up. "How do you think we travelled the world?" she smirked.

"A… key?" Tom's confusion was growing by the second.

"It's a perception filter," Rose told him as they turned and headed towards the truck again. "The TARDIS, our ship, it has this thing that makes people notice it less. It shifts their focus, their perception of it. These are the keys to the TARDIS. My… friend used the keys and the Archangel Network to make the perception filter… well, portable to whoever wears the key."

"Archangel? Wasn't that a phone network?"

"Yeah," Martha smiled. "'Cause the Master set up Archangel, a mobile network, 15 satellites around the planet. But really it's transmitting a low-level psychic field. That's how everyone got hypnotised into thinking he was Harold Saxon."

"Saxon! Feels like years ago," he almost growled.

"Just one," Rose sighed. "Point is, the key's tuned into the same frequency, as well as being part of a ship with a strong perception filter. It makes us… not invisible, just unnoticeable."

"But I can see you," he said.

"That's 'cause you wanted to," Martha laughed almost joyfully. Rose smiled at the sight. Things had been worse for Martha after she had regenerated.

"In a good way," Rose added. "We can see each other because we're wearing the same kind. But others… only love or hope could break through it. Hatred and need aren't strong enough. You must have really wanted to see us."

"Yeah, I suppose I did."

"Is there a Mrs Milligan?" Martha asked him.

"No. no. what bout you two?"

"Not me," Martha said. "Not much time with studies."

Tom nodded, smiling. "Mmm, I remember. Rose?"

"I have someone waiting for me when I get back," she grinned. She hadn't lost her tongue in cheek grin in the regeneration, one thing she was happy for. It reminded her that it really was her in the mirror.

"But you wouldn't have seen him in a year. How do…" he just couldn't stand to finish that sentence when he saw the dreamy look on her face.

"I just know," she replied to the unfinished question. "Trust me, I know. He's fine… well, no change since when I left."

"Come on," Martha said when Tom opened his mouth to question further. "We've got to find this Docherty woman." Then she swung herself up into the truck. Rose followed her.

"We'll have to wait until the next work shift. What time is it now?"

"Nearly three," Rose told him automatically. She couldn't tell time by herself precisely, but she had inklings of it. She wriggled in her seat. She was getting an odd sense of anticipation. But it wasn't coming from her.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor looked up to see that the clock read two minutes to three. It was nearly time. Soon they would put their plan to action. He only hopped that they actually achieved something from it.

"Time for my massage," the Master announced as he walked into the room. He looked at his wife who was looking rather dazed and had a black eye that she hadn't quite managed to cover. "Tanya. Come on, Sweetheart. Lucy, have you met Tanya? She's gorgeous!" he continued to taunt the poor woman who made the mistake of trusting him. He took off his jacket and threw it on the table. "Tanya, when we get to the stars, I'm going to take you to the Catrigan Nova. Whirlpools of gold." He sat down and the woman began on his shoulders. "You two should get to know each other. That might be fun."

Next thing, an alarm went off and the PA system called a 'condition red'. Jack had done his job.

"What the hell?" the Master cried running up to the bridge. Quickly Francine dived on his jacket, tossing it to Tish, who passed it to the Doctor. The Doctor dug into the pockets and took out the Laser Screwdriver, aiming it at the Master just as he turned around at the sound of the small scuffle behind him. "Oh, I see," he sighed, putting his hands up.

"I told you," the Doctor rasped. "I have one thing to say." He clicked the screwdriver, but nothing happened. He looked at in confusion and the Master laughed. The Doctor tried again, to no avail.

"Isomorphic controls," he grinned smugly, leaning over and taking it from him. Suddenly he backhanded the Doctor, sending him to the floor. "Which means they only work for me," he explained to all the people who didn't have an IQ higher than a super computer. "Like this." He shot at Francine. He missed her mostly, but nicked her arm, which she instantly cradled to her. "Say sorry!" he demanded.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" she all but shrieked at him, fury dripping from the word.

"Mum!" Tish cried, running over to her.

"Didn't you learn anything from the blessed saints Martha and Rose?" Lucy helped him into his jacket. "Siding with the Doctor is a dangerous thing to do. Just look at Rose's family. They're not even here anymore. Take them away."

A guard took the two women away and the Master came over and helped the Doctor into a chair. "Okay. Gotcha," he said. "There you go, gramps. Oh, do you know, I remember the days when the Doctor, oh, that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War. Battling Sea Devils and Axons. He sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single-handed. Ooh, and look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this? Oh yeah, me!" he laughed excitedly.

The Doctor acted unfazed by the words. "I just need you to listen."

"No, it's my turn!" the Master growled. "Revenge! Best served hot. And this time… it's a message for Miss Tyler!"


	66. Last of the Time Lords, They're Us

_**Hey guys!**_

_**Sorry this is a little late. I was actually going a little nuts waiting for it to come back. And for me, when we talk about going nuts, we mean that I go more insane than the Master (except I'm not evil… I hope… well, I know that at least 2 of me aren't, and one is just very sarcastic).**_

_**Hopefully I'll have the next one up a little faster. I'm already half way though it. But I'm also writing 6 literally at the same time. I go back and forth between them all. And I have a new one too!**_

_**Hey, who reckons I can win the 1000 review challenge by the end of the day?**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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><p>.<p>

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**They're Us**

Tom through the wire, and constantly checking for Toclafane, the three of them ran through the open aria of the compound as fast as they could. Soon they were pushing back the plastic flaps that served as a door. The second they were through they could hear frustrated grunts and cries, and an older woman with short hair came into view, attacking an old TV monitor.

"Professor Docherty?" Tom asked.

"Busy," she replied offhandedly.

"They, uh, they sent word ahead," he went on. "I'm Tom Milligan. This is Rose Tyler and Martha Jones."

"They can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. I'm busy."

"Televisions don't work anymore," Martha half snapped, half sneered.

"Oh god, I miss 'Countdown'," Docherty sighed. "Hasn't been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural for Des? Desii? Deseen?" Rose smiled at the nutty babble. She had missed hearing the Doctor speak like that. "But we've been told there's going to be a transmission." She banged the monitor. "From the man himself."

"Here," Rose said moving over to the back of the monitor and began fiddling. "I may not have a sonic screw driver… but I can still do this." The screen flickered to life. "See, you can't not be friends with Mickey and the Doctor and use 68% more of your brain, without picking up a thing or two."

She came to join them and on the monitor, she saw the Master, facing the camera. The image was grey and grainy, but they could see everything.

"My people," he said in his smarmy voice. "Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. stories of two children, two little girls, walking the Earth, giving you hope." He walked back to reveal the old, crippled Doctor sitting in a wheelchair behind him. He went and stood with the Doctor. "But I ask you… how much hope had this man got? Say hello, Gandalf." Rose snorted. Usually the Doctor might have taken that as a complement. "Except he's not _that_ old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you _stunted little apes_. What if it showed?" he suddenly said. He took out the Laser screwdriver and began to fiddle with the settings. "What if I suspended your capacity to regenerate? All 900 years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?"

For a split second, even though the TV was unclear, she could see the fear in the Doctor's eyes. But she knew he wasn't scared for himself. The feeling was practically screaming through their bond. An image of herself flashed through her mind, and she knew. The only thing he feared for was her. She could feel him trying to close off the bond, dull it down to it's lowest.

The next second, the Master had pressed the screwdriver and her mind burned with a searing pain. She let out a scream as she clutched her head. She was hardly aware of the Master's taunting words, nor of Martha and Tom kneeling beside her as she sunk to the floor. The pain was excruciating, and she was only getting what could escape through the low telepathic link. It was agony.

A minute later, it stopped. She lay on the ground, breathless, as the pain receded. Martha and Tom looked at her in concern. Then Martha looked back up to the TV and gasped.

"Received and understood, Miss Jones? How about _you_, Miss Tyler? How do you feel now? Because it won't be the last."' And with that, the transition ended.

"Are you okay?" Tom asked her, helping her to sit up.

"Yeah, just give me a moment," she gasped. "Water… do you have any water?" Docherty nodded and left.

.

A few minutes later they all sat in Docherty's living quarters. She handed them out some papers on the Archangel net work as she spoke. Rose sipped at her water, still recovering.

"Obviously, the Archangel network would seem to be the master's greatest weakness. Fifteen satellites, all around Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."

Rose nodded in agreement. It may not affect her, but she could feel it, and she had seen the effects it was having.

"We could just take them out," Tom suggested. Rose had to make an effort not to cry out that he couldn't. They couldn't give the game away in front of Docherty. Martha, despite the coldness she had developed, was able to keep a straight face.

"We could," the Professor said sarcastically. "Fifteen ground-to-air missiles. Got any on you? Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend."

"They're not called Toclafane," Rose croaked. Her voice was still slightly hoarse from screaming. She remembered the stories of the real Toclafane that the Doctor had shown her through the bond, like pages of an old storybook. "It's just a name the Master stole from his people's fairytales. Like the Boogieman or the Bed-monster. Told to scare little Time Lords away from doing exactly what the Master is trying to do, create a paradox. Those are something else."

"What are they, then?" she asked.

"That's why we came to find you. Know your enemy," Martha told her, staring her down for a moment. "I've got this." She stood and pulled a CD from their bag. "No one's been able to look at a sphere close up. They can't even be damaged. Except once. The lightning strike in South Africa bought one of them down. Just by chance. I've got the readings on this."

Moments later they were trying to read the data on Docherty's computer. It kept blinking and looked like the screen of the first computers that had no setting. Professor Docherty was growling and banging at it, trying to get it to work. She was making the Doctor look gentle!

"Oh, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates!"

"So is that why you travelled the world?" Tom asked them. "To find a disk?"

"No. We just got lucky," Rose told him.

"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon," Docherty said. There was a tone in her voice that obviously gave away that she was digging for information. The poor lady was desperate. Well, what would you do if the Master was holding your son captive for no other reason than it leading to leverage over a smart woman? "There!" she cried as the results finally came up. "A current of 58.5 kilo amperes transferred charge of 510 megajoules precisely."

"Can you recreate that?" Tom asked, catching onto the plan.

"I think so," the Professor thought a moment and smiled. "Easily. Yes."

"All right then, Dr Milligan," Martha smiled. "We're gonna get us a sphere."

Martha grinned at the man as they began to form a plan. Rose noticed that over the few hours they had been in his company she had softened a little. She was still acting impassive about the war ravaged world around her, but she was becoming more like her old self. She really liked him. He was good for her. She hoped that Martha would go back to her normal self when everything had been set right.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor hung mournfully in his slightly glorified birdcage. He had been unable to save Rose from having to suffer the pain he felt. He had tried to block off their bond as much as he could, but he still hadn't been able to stop it.

Now he looked like a tiny Sméagol or a small eared house elf!

The doors slid open, and the Master and Lucy snuck into the room. "Tomorrow they launch," the Master told him tauntingly. "We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. Kind of scary."

"Then stop," he said.

"Once the empire is established and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops." The Master walked so he was leaning right close to the cage. "The drumming. The never ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the Vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me."

"It's only you," he replied softly.

"Good."

The door hissed again and a sphere flew in. "Tomorrow, the war!" it said gleefully. "Tomorrow we rise, never to fall!"

"You see? I'm doing it for them! You should be grateful. After all, you love them. So very, very much."

**?...DW…?**

Their plan had worked flawlessly. Tom had attracted the attention of the Toclafane with gunshot, then led them right to the spot where they had set up the electric charge. Professor Docherty allowed Tom to run through, but jammed two plugs together, just as the Toclafane came through. It was caught in the electric field and fell to the ground.

Now the four of them stood over it as Professor Docherty fiddled with it, coaxing it open. She ran a scalpel through the small seam.

"There's some sort of magnetic clamp. Hold on, I'll just trip the…" With a low hiss and a thunk, it undid and Docherty prised the sides apart as if she were opening a flower. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed.

They all leaned over and peered inside. Nestled in a bed of wires was a creepy, slimy looking humanoid face. Machinery had been built in where the nose and mouth had used to be. Wires stuck into the side of it, attaching it to the sphere it was housed inside.

It almost reminded Rose of the Daleks. On the outside they were shiny and robotic and fearsome. But on the inside it showed the real creature. The small, soft, sickly creature that had hidden itself away. Both living for the kill.

Suddenly its eyes snapped open to reveal two clouded over, pale blue orbs. They all jumped back in fright.

"It's alive!" Docherty cried.

The sphere's eyes swivelled around the room as they all leaned closer again. "Martha. Martha Jones. Rose Tyler," it said in a male's voice.

"It knows you!" Tom breathed.

"Sweet, kind Martha and Rose. You helped us to fly."

"What do you mean?" Martha demanded shakily.

"You led us to salvation."

"Who are you?"

"The skies are made of diamonds," it answered.

"No," Martha shook her head, backing away. "You can't be him!"

"We share each other's memories. You sent him to Utopia." At this Rose paled, making her already fair skin go almost white. Her eyes widened and she had to fight the urge to shout at it. But all she was able to do was gasp in horror and shock. This was what the Doctor had been hiding from her.

"Oh my god!" Martha cried.

"What's it talking about? What does it mean?" Tom asked, sounding panicked.

"What are they?" Docherty added.

"You…" Rose whispered. The two people looked at her in confusion. "They're humans. The human race nearly a hundred trillion years in the future… The Doctor's been trying to hide this from me for weeks, months even. I knew there was something familiar about them." She ran a hand through her black hair, a motion so reminiscent of the Doctor. "The master had our TARDIS - our home - a time travelling spaceship. He must have found Utopia. I knew that had to be from the end of the universe. Because the Doctor said that the master could only use the TARDIS to go between this year, and the year 100 trillion. This is why he made the paradox machine. He took them away from Utopia, and brought them here."

"The Utopia project was the last hope," Martha explained. "Trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."

"There was no solution. No diamonds," the thing that used to be Creet said harshly. "Just the dark and the cold. But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home."

"But that's a paradox," Docherty said. "If you're the future of the human race, and you've come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist!"

"And that's what the paradox machine does," Rose said quietly. "It helps sustain both realities. Stops it from reverting back to the original timeline when the Toclafane cancel themselves out."

"But what about us?" Tom asked, barely holding in his anger. "We're the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?"

"Because it's fun!" it giggled madly.

And that was it. Tom could hold back no more. He drew his gun, and shot the vile thing that could no longer be called human.

**?...DW…?**

The Master sat at the table pensively. Lucy stood behind him, almost in a trance, and a sphere sat on its perch in the middle of the table.

"I took Lucy to Utopia," he said calmly. "A Time Lord and his human companion. I took her to see the stars. Isn't that right, Sweetheart?"

Lucy looked slightly startled at being called forth to talk. But she knew what she had to say. What he wanted her to. "Trillions of years into the future. To the end of the universe…"

"Tell him what you saw."

"Dying. Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart. And I thought 'there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever'."

"And it's all your fault," the Master told the Doctor, who was hanging sadly in the cage. "You should have seen it, Doctor. Furnaces, burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark. All the human inventions that had sustained them across eons. It turned inwards… They cannibalised themselves."

"We made ourselves so pretty," the girlish sphere hummed.

"Regressing into children," the Master added. "But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them. That's why I made it. My masterpiece, Doctor. A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty."

"But you're changing history," the Doctor said, trying to stand up. He had very little physical strength left. "Not just Earth, the entire universe." Finally he managed to stand and grip onto the bars.

"I'm a Time Lord," the Master sneered. "I have that right."

The Doctor's hands clenched in anger. They may have the right to change things… but not to devastate them. But arguing about that wasn't going to get him answers. "But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"

The Master smiled, but it was the sphere that answered. "We've come backwards in time to build a brand new empire lasting 100 trillion years."

"With me as their Master. Time Lord and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor?" He smiled and gave a bitter laugh before pushing off from the chair and walking up the Doctor's cage. "Human race. Greatest monsters of them all." With that, he turned and went back to Lucy, taking her hand. "Night-night." And they left, the sphere following after.


	67. Last of the Time Lords, The Plan

**The Plan**

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The four of them sat in Professor Docherty's living quarters. Martha was looking at Rose, who was sitting unnaturally still. Sometimes she forgot that her friend wasn't human anymore. But lately it had been hard not to realise it. She didn't look anything like what she used to. When she had first changed, the changes in her appearances had been so subtle. A little skinnier here, more defined there. Naturally blonde hair. Now all that was gone.

Some mornings it was hard not to wake up, scared that she was with a stranger. She was slightly taller than she had been, a lot skinner, although (annoyingly enough) had managed to keep her curves. Her skin was pale, and looked even paler in contrast to her long pitch black hair. Her features were a little more angular and fairy like. Her eyes were now a piercing ice blue and looked a lot older, as if she had seen years of horrors.

And it seemed they almost had. But Rose's eyes were the only thing to indicate that she was struggling to cope what was happening. She didn't understand how Rose - even with the Doctor in her head to comfort her - could still remain so gentle and kind. Although, she had learnt form experience just how harsh she could be. One thing she knew, you did not want to mess with this new Rose Tyler. Ever.

"I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones, Miss Tyler," Professor Docherty said as she lounged in a chair. Rose and Martha looked at each other. They knew they had to tell the lie they had spun. "The legend says you've travelled the world to find a way of killing the master. Tell us, is it true?"

Martha spoke first. "Just before we escaped, the Doctor told me I had to search for this specific weapon."

"See, the Doctor, and even the Master had been coming to Earth for years. And they've been watched," Rose said. Beside her, Martha began to unpack their bag to show them the gun. "There's UNIT and Torchwood - actually I didn't really help with the Torchwood creation, kept trying to get Queen Victoria to say 'we are not amused'. - But they've been studying Time Lords in secret. Because the Master caused quite a bit of trouble before all this. So they made this gun. The ultimate defence."

Martha opened the case and spread out the three vials of coloured chemicals (which were really water and food colouring).

"All you need to do is get close," Tom said misunderstanding. "I can shoot the Master dead with this." He held up his gun.

"Actually, you can put that down now, thank you very much," Docherty said warily.

"Yes, please," Rose said. Even in these times, she still hated guns. She'd only ever handled one three times. And only shot once. "Besides, it's not that easy to kill a Time Lord. We can regenerate. Literally change every cell of our bodies to keep them from dying. It's not exactly pleasant, but it keeps us alive."

"Ah, the Master's immortal! Wonderful!" Docherty said sarcastically.

"Except for this," Martha smiled picking up the gun. She winced when it accidentally swung too close to Rose. She knew it wouldn't do anything, but it would be good to make a point of it. Thankfully Rose picked up on it and jumped back. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Good thing it's not loaded. See, these four chemicals, slotted into the gun, inject him… kills a Time Lord permanently."

"Four chemicals?" Tom said in confusion. "You've only got three."

"Still need the last one. 'Cause the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world. And we found them. San Diego, Beijing, Budapest, and London."

"Where is it?"

"There's an old UNIT base up in North London," Rose told him. "We've got the access codes. Tom, you _have_ to get us there." Tom nodded.

"Now would be best," Martha said, packing up the gun again.

"We can't go across London in the dark," Tom said as they walked through the compound. "It's full of wild dogs, we'll get eaten alive. We can wait till the morning, and then go with the medical convoy."

"You can spend the night here, if you like," Docherty tried.

"No, we can get halfway," Tom said. "Stay at the slave quarters in Bexley." He turned to her and shook her hand. "Professor, thank you."

"Good luck."

"Thanks," Rose said kissing her on the cheek and Martha smiled at her. She was doing them a big favour, even if she didn't know so. Rose just hoped that she would pass on the hints of her being a Time Lord too.

They had begun to walk off when the Professor called them back. "Could you do it? Could you actually kill him?"

"Got not choice," Martha said sadly.

"You two might be many things, but you don't look like killers to me."

"We'll do what we have to," Rose said softly. Then they turned and headed off.

**?...DW…?**

The three of them stole into the night, avoiding the guards and Toclafane that patrolled the streets. It wasn't long until they came to what seemed to be the right house. Quietly he rapped a tune on the door of number 8.

"Let me in, it's Milligan," he whispered through the mail slot. The door clicked open and they quickly snuck inside. The place was absolutely packed; there wasn't much room to move. People looked like they were in terrible state. It was worse than a war-stricken refugee camp. Sadly, they looked better than some places they had seen.

"Did you bring any food?" a woman asked Tom.

"Couldn't get any," he shook his head. "And I'm starving."

"All we've got is water," she replied.

"It's cheaper than building barracks," Tom told them as they moved through the house. "Pack them in, 100 in each house. Ferry them off the shipyards every morning."

"Are you Martha Jones…? And Rose Tyler?" a boy asked them. He looked little more than a teenager.

"Yeah, that's us," Rose said kindly.

"Can you do it? Can you kill him? They say you two can kill the Master, can you? Tell us, can you do it. Please tell us you can do it."

"Who is the Master?" put in another voice. Then another. And another. And another, until everyone was all shouting over top of one another.

"Come on, just leave them alone. They're exhausted!" Tom called over the din.

"No, it's alright," Martha told him, laying a hand on his chest to settle him. "They want us to talk… and we will."

.

An hour later they were sitting at the base of the stairs, telling everyone in the house some of their adventures on Earth, mostly modern, and all recognisable. All of them stood or sat, listening in rapt attention.

"We've travelled across the world," Martha told them. "From the Ruins of New York, to the Fusion Mills of China, right across the Radiation Pits of Europe. And everywhere we went, we say people just like you, living as slaves. But if we became a legend, then that's wrong. Because our names aren't important."

A murmur rose up among the crowd and Rose stepped in. "There's someone else," she said softly. "The man who sent us out there. The man who told us to the walk the Earth. So that we could help him stop this. His name is the Doctor. And he has saves your lives _so many_ times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops, and he never stays. Never even asks to be thanked or recognised. Just wants to help and go. But I've seen him do this. I know him better than anyone alive today. I love him. And I know what he can do. Those stories we told you were true. Downing Street, the Sycorax, Canary Warf, last Christmas, the hospital, I was there for all of it. And on one would have survived if it weren't for him.

Right now there is only one thing we ask, one thing that you need to do. It would help us all so much. If you have any faith, any at all, then you need to put it in the Doctor. Tomorrow the Master will launch the missiles… on the count of zero, think of the Doctor. Think of him, say his name, lend him your strength, just _believe_ in him! Because I do, more than anything. And we need you all to, as well. Please, if you want to be free, that's all we ask of you. Help us. Think of the Doctor."

"It's him! It's him! Oh my god, it's him! It's the Master! He's here!" A woman cried rushing up before they could get any further.

"But he never comes to Earth!" the boy said in bewilderment. "He never walks upon the ground!"

"Hide them!" the woman shouted.

"Use this," Tom said chucking over his jacket. "Anyone got something else?" And before they could do anything to protest, many hands were pushing them down and covering them in tarps and blankets and jackets.

They hear the sound of a gun cocking and knew that someone, most likely Tom, was at the door, ready to defend them.

"He walks among us," the boy whimpered. "Our Lord and Master."

.

It wasn't long until they heard that horrid voice calling out to them. "Martha… Rose! Oh Martha Jo-hones and Rose Ty-laa! I can see you!" he laughed. "Come out, little girls. Come and meet your Master… Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing?" There was a pause. "Positions!" he called to whoever was outside. "I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself, 'what would the Doctor do?'"

Rose couldn't take it any longer. They needed to be out there anyway and she couldn't let anyone else get hurt! She threw the jacket off of herself and took off the TARDIS Key, slipping it into her pocket. Martha followed suit and they carefully made their way to the door. Wide, startled eyes watched them go and a few hands reached out to stop them, but they were gently brushed aside.

They reached the door, and Martha placed her hand over Tom's letting him know that it was okay to let them go. Reluctantly, he let them go and Martha placed a kiss on his cheek. They both turned and gave everyone a reassuring smile before stepping outside.

The Master was waiting for them. When he saw them, he started clapping. "Oh, yes!" he cried in delight. "Oh, very well done! Good Girl! He trained you well." Slowly the two girls continued into the centre of the room. "But," he said sharply. "Where is Miss Tyler?"

Rose groaned, she had so hoped that Docherty or even on of the Toclafane had alerted him to the fact she was a Time Lady. Hell, she had dropped enough hints, and the Toclafane somehow still knew who she was despite the appearance change. Probably from the very few times they had been seen, and they could share data between one another. But still he didn't know. The Toclafane must be very dumb, or not quite realise the significance of it. And Docherty must have assumed that he already knew.

"Wait, hold on. If she is here, she can't get very far. The area is surrounded," the Master sneered. "First things first… the bag. Give me the bag." Angrily, Martha went to pass it to him, but he held up a hand. "No, stay there. Just throw it." Glaring, Martha did so. Smiling maliciously, he took out his laser-screwdriver (causing Rose to shiver involuntarily) and shot the bag, destroying its contents. The gun was gone. "And now, Martha Jones, you can tell me where Rose Tyler is. Where is the Doctor's favourite little pet?"

"I'm right here, Master," Rose said, stepping forward. Her accent and appearance startled him for a moment, and then he burst out laughing.

"You think that you can fool me? Don't be so pathetic?" he raised the screwdriver again and aimed at her.

"Aw, please," she wined. "I really don't want to regenerate again. That really wasn't fun."

"Ah, so she's dead then," he smiled, thinking he had it figured. "I see what you've done. You don't want people, or the Doctor, giving up hope, so you replaced her. Rose Tyler died in Japan, just like I thought, didn't she?"

"Yeah, I did! Why do you think I look like this?" Rose snapped.

"Stop lying to me! Rose was human," he laughed. "She couldn't have regenerated."

"Oh, yeah," Rose said frostily. She very so slowly began walking towards him. "Then, how come I can remember everything that happened at the Silo? How do I know that when you were young, everyone called you Koschei, and the Doctor - or Theta as they called him - was your best friend? And don't you remember it? I know you were human at the time and somewhat distressed, but you still would have heard. Remember what Martha said to me? She mentioned that I wasn't human anymore." By now she was right in front of him and her voice was deadly quiet. "And, if I'm not a Time Lord… then how come I have two hearts?" The master's eyes opened wide, half sceptical, half disbelieving bewilderment. "Go on, listen."

Hesitantly he reached up and placed his hands on her chest, over each heart. His face remained impassive as pieces fell into place for him. Then a large malicious smile spread across his face.

"Well, well, well," he sung. "What have we here? Two hearts? A Time Lady? You're her, aren't you? You're the one I keep feeling. No wonder he refused to say anything about you. Only… how did this happen? It's not possible."

"Tell that to my regenerated ass!"

"Ooh, I like this incarnation! You're even feistier than you used to be! I like it a lot…"

His eyes travelled her body and he leered at her, creeping her out. "Keep away from me," she warned.

"Oh, Rose Tyler," he purred her name in delight. It made her shudder in revulsion. "I had such plans for you," he said quietly. "I was going to kill you. Slowly and painfully… let you suffer. Right in front of him. Let him watch the life fade from your beautiful eyes." He reached up to caress the side of her face, but she jerked back. He grabbed her forcefully by the wrist so she couldn't pull away and leant in so is mouth was right by her ear. "And now, oh, you have made things so much better. Because you have a bond with the Doctor, don't you? And that means, that what I'm going to do to you now, will hurt him _so _much more…"

"Get. Off. Me," she hissed in a low voice.

"Hmm, for now," he told her. "But later… you and me are going to have a _lot_ of fun!" he laughed and then turned back to Martha. "As for you, good companion, your job is done. But as I am robbed of the pleasure of seeing Rose die, you shall take her place… Well, I was going to kill you anyway… but when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?" he laughed again and inhaled deeply. "It's almost dawn, girls. And planet Earth marches to war."

Rose and Martha shot worried looks at each other as they were forced into handcuffs and roughly pushed towards the helicopter. The both of them were only half acting. They knew that the Doctor would be able to stop the Master before anything bad could happen… but the things that the insane man had said, had really unnerved the both of them. And with the Master pressed up so close against Rose, she was ready to jump out of the flying helicopter just to get away.

She didn't like what she thought might happen if things didn't quite go as planed. If things went pear shaped - hmm, no wonder the Doctor _really_ hated pears - then she was sure that she would have preferred still being human.

At least that would be easier on the Doctor, than what was promised to come.

.

.

.

* * *

><p><em><strong>WOW! I had SO much fun writing this! First I got to have Rose's explanation of what they were doing and talking about what she is. I wanted to give the Toclafane (mythic Gallifreyan kind) a decent fairytale background, I thought it would be rather ironic if their purpose was to scare Time Lords from causing paradoxes. It just seems like something the Master would find funny. Also, I thought they better carry a moral, because I can see Gallifreyans having legends… but not so much fairytales.<strong>_

_**Anyway, THEN I got to write the interaction between Rose and the Master. I loved it! (Hopefully it lives up to what you wanted). And don't worry, there's more to come in the next chapter.**_

_**I know lots of you asked for more detail on Rose, so here it is. I was actually planning on putting it in here somewhere from the start. I have a certain way I like to write things, and if I'm giving a straight out explanation on looks, I like to do it from someone else's point of view. Martha's just seemed the best.**_

_**And finally, 'With a TARDIS and a portal gun' - thank you, by the way - pointed out that Rose looks different, so the Creet Toclafane shouldn't have been able to recognise her. So, I have a subtle and believable fix-it!**_

_**Only two more chapters to go! And then I'm starting season 4 on a new story. It will be called 'Through the Stars'. And yes, I will be starting with Time Crash. And by the way, the next chapter is going to be awesome! I'm REALLY looking forward to writing it.**_

_**So I hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you to all you wonderful people for your continued support! I reached my 1000 review mark. And you have no idea how much it means to me to see all your feedback and hear how much you like my work. You are all so brilliant!**_

_**See ya soon!**_


	68. Last of the Time Lords, Healed

**Healed**

.

.

Martha looked about as she was lead into the centre of the main deck. She could see her family and Jack, standing guarded at the edge of the room. At the front, just off to the side of where the Master was standing, she could see the deformed Doctor, hanging in a birdcage. When he saw her enter alone, the look of panic in his eyes grew.

She knew why. On the helicopter, the Master had placed his hands on Rose's temples and she had screamed. Afterwards she had fearfully whispered that she couldn't feel the Doctor in her head anymore. Like the Master had placed some sort of block. Obviously it went both ways. He had no idea that she was standing right outside the door, waiting until the Master gave the order to bring her in.

She came to a stop and the Master smirked down at her. "Your teleport device," he said holding out his hand. "In case you thought I'd forgotten." Sullenly she reached into her pocket and then threw the Vortex Manipulator to him. "And now… Kneel." She did so, her eyes never leaving him. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?" he asked the last part down the comm.

"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!" came the reply.

.

Then the Doctor could hold back no longer. "Where's Rose?" he demanded. "What have you done to her?""

"What have _I_ done?" the master laughed incredulously as he turned to face him. Then he walked down the stairs and over to the cage. "More like what have _you_ done?"

He snapped his fingers and the doors opened again. He saw the guards push in a woman with long black wavy hair, pale skin and elven features. But the moment he looked into her ice blue eyes, he knew exactly who she was. He almost grinned in relief, as did she. But the Jones's and Jack just stared at her in confusion.

"Now _that_ is absolutely incredible," the Master grinned pointing at Rose. "I call for Rose Tyler, and what do I get? A beautiful woman who looks _nothing_ like her. I thought, of course, Rose was killed in Japan like I was told she'd been. And she was… Oh, but look… this woman claiming to be Rose Tyler has two hearts… Now, tell me, wasn't she supposed to be human?"

With another snap of the fingers Rose was dragged right up to the cage. Moodily she shook the guard off her, kicking him in the shin before tuning back to the Doctor with a grin. "Hello Doctor," she said. "Did you miss me?"

"Shut it, Tyler," the Master snapped, then turned back to the Doctor and spoke in a creepily calm voice. "A human who has become a Time Lord… quite fascinating. But we can worry about how that happened later. We have another Time Lord. Three of us. And we don't have to be the last anymore. Now that we have a woman we can, well… re_pop_ulate," he smirked, popping the 'P'. "Oh, not you of course. I don't want your goodie-two-shoes genes in the next generation. No she'll be mine."

The Doctor glared at him, but Rose bet him to saying anything. "Like I'd ever let you _anywhere_ near me!" she spat.

"Who said anything about 'let'?" he sneered, leering at her from the corner of his eye. Rose suppressed another shudder and the Doctor growled low and gripped at the bars. The Master seemed gleeful at this. "Oh! That hit a nerve!" he cried in delight. "I've been looking for a weakness like that all year. And I've finally found it." He ran a finger down Roses cheek, and she flinched away in disgust. "Oh, come on, now," he cooed. "At least you get to live. As for _you_, Martha Jones…" he spun around and walked back up the stairs, staring at the count down on the way. "I never could resist a ticking clock," he grinned. "At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones, will die. My first blood," he laughed. "Any last words?" Martha said nothing. "No?" He looked over at the Doctor. "Such a disappointment, this one. At least my dear Rose is feisty. Even bold enough to absorb the Time Vortex. This one's useless!"

"I'll be _yours_ the day I get sucked into the Void," Rose hissed under her breath.

"Bow your head," he told Martha. "And so it falls to me, the Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords! From this day forward-" he stopped as he heard Martha chuckle. She looked up and met Rose's eyes and they both began to giggle a little. "What?" he demanded. "What's so funny?"

"A gun?" Martha scoffed.

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts?"

"Yes, and I _destroyed_ it," he said, not getting the point.

"A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world?" Rose snorted. "I mean, come on, you're a Time Lord, you should _know_ what can kill you. Did you _really_ believe that? Did you think UNIT was that clever?"

"What do you mean," he said, finally pausing properly to try and understand.

"As if I would ask them to kill," the Doctor said.

"Oh, well, it doesn't matter!" he cried. "I've got you all exactly where I want you."

"But we knew what Professor Docherty would do," Martha said. "The Resistance knew about her son. We told her about the gun, so she'd get us here. At the right time."

"Oh, but you're still gonna die!" he said starting to sound desperate. If they had manipulated things like this, they were bound to have another plan. But he wouldn't let them have the chance to do it.

"Don't you wanna know what we were doing, Master?" Rose said sweetly. "Travelling the world, if we weren't looking for a gun or a weapon?"

"Tell me," he relented sarcastically and sat down on the stair.

"We told a story, that's all," Martha said. "No weapons, just words. We did just what the Doctor said. We went across the continents, just the two of us. And everywhere we went, we found the people, and we told them our story."

"We told them about the Doctor," Rose put in.

"And told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

"Faith and hope? Is that all?" the Master sneered at the two of them.

"No, 'cause we gave them an instruction." She grew bolder and more confident. A grin spread across her face as she stood up. "Just as the Doctor said. We told them that if every one thinks of one word, at one specific time-"

"Nothing will happen!" the Master cried in exasperation, jumping up. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"Right across the world," Rose said, shrugging out of the guards grasp and walking forward. "One word, just one thought, at one moment… but with fifteen satellites!"

"What?" The Master froze.

"The Archangel Network," Jack piped up with a broad grin.

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together," Rose grinned too. "With all of them, every single person on Earth thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word… is Doctor." With a bleep, the countdown reached zero and they all turned to face the Doctor as he began to glow in his cage. "My Doctor," she whispered.

"Doctor," Martha smiled.

"Stop it!" the Master shouted. "No, no, no, no you don't!"

"Doctor," Jack breathed as he closed his eyes. So did Francine and the rest of the Jones family. And then others in the room followed suit, even Lucy Saxon.

"Stop this, right now!" the Master shouted. "Stop it!" But right before him the Doctor continued to glow. The cage around him disappeared and he began to grow and become young again.

"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices," he told the Master.

"I order you to stop!" was the only thing he said as everyone continued to chant the word 'Doctor'. Rose couldn't help but laugh when she heard a very confused Toclafane join in.

"One thing you can't do. Stop them thinking," the Doctor said as he became his normal age again, and began to levitate. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."

"Show off!" Rose laughed. She stood on watching happily as Martha ran over and hugged her family. Jack came over and wrapped one filthy arm around her.

"You know Rose, this incarnation of you is very hot," he whispered in her ear. "It's no wonder even the Master liked you. Seriously, what are you? Time Lord Catnip?" Laughing, Rose turned and hugged one of her best friends.

"No!" the Master's cry interrupted her. She looked up in time to see him fire the laser-screwdriver at the Doctor. But the Doctor deflected it, reminding her of her recently recovered memories of when she had first absorbed the Time Vortex.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," the Doctor said.

"Then I'll kill them!" he cried aiming the screwdriver at the Jones's. With the nod of his head, the Doctor sent the laser-screwdriver flying across the room. "You can't do this! You can't do - It's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now," the Doctor said, gravitating towards the Master.

"No! No! No! No!" the Master cried backing away, beginning to grovel.

"You wouldn't listen."

"No!" he had backed all the way back down the side stairs and was now stumbling back into the wall, the Doctor still advancing in a glowing haze.

"Because you know what I'm going to say."

"No!" the Master whimpered, curling into the fetal position.

Letting go of the energy, the Doctor dropped to his feet, walked over to the whimpering, cowering Master and took him in his arms. "I forgive you," he whispered. And he did, because he still blamed himself for what happened to the Master all those years ago. Even though the Master had done such horrible things to him in the past… and the last year, he could forgive him. Soon this would all be just a memory.

"My children!" the master hissed.

Quickly the Doctor jumped up. "Captain! The Paradox Machine!" he shouted.

Jack nodded and signalled to a group of the guards. "You men! With me! You stay here," he said to Martha and Rose as he ran by.

But Rose wasn't listening. She watched as the Master pulled the Vortex manipulator from his pocket and went to activate it. She lunged. At the same time the Doctor noticed it too. "No!" he cried. And in a flash of blinding blue light, the three Time Lords were gone.

**?...DW…?**

Rose looked about. They were on some sort of cliff top, smoking rockets rumbling below them as far as they eye could see.

"It ends now, Doctor! It ends _now!_" the Master cried maniacally, throwing his arms wide.

"We've got control of the _Valiant_," the Doctor said. "You can't launch."

"Oh, but I've got this." He held up a small device. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth, together, as it burns!"

"Weapon after weapon after weapon," the Doctor almost taunted, walking from Rose's side towards the Master. "All you ever do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years… and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I _know_ you," he said gently. "Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do." He held out his hand. "Give that to me."

But before he could, suddenly the earth began to shake around them, and the three of them fell to the ground. Even with their minds blocked from each other, Rose and the Doctor knew each other perfectly. At the same time they both lunged for the Master, Rose going after the manipulator, and the Doctor after the detonator. They struggled on the ground a moment before Rose got the Vortex manipulator and holding it to them all, teleported them back onto the airship.

**?...DW…?**

Getting up there, Rose pocketed the manipulator and the Doctor slipped the detonator in his pocket as well. They looked out the window to see thousands of Toclafane disappear, just as they were about to reach the ship. Everything gave another huge jerk, and Rose fell into the Doctor's arms. They smiled at each other. Jack had done it. He had destroyed the Paradox Machine.

"Everyone down!" the Doctor cried as he had Rose fell to the ground in each other's arms. "Time is reversing!" Everyone did as they were told and dropped to the ground as everything spun and shook around them.

Glad to have him back, Rose grabbed the Doctor by the tie and pulled his lips to hers. She could hear Martha laughing somewhere near them. But she pulled back when she felt a heat encase her body. She felt as if she were burning and with dread recognised it from the time she had regenerated.

The Doctor stared at her wide eyed as she was surrounded by the golden light. But it didn't feel quite like the last time, and she didn't explode with the energy. Instead it flowed around her and she felt her body grow shorter and her features change. She felt more… familiar. Before her, the Doctor was still holding her hands, despite the burn, and he was grinning as he watched her change back into her old self.

Finally everything stilled and they looked about warily. But one look at Rose told the Doctor that the plan had worked. "Hello," he grinned cheekily brushing her blonde hair and planting a small kiss on her lips. Then he jumped up and ran to check the controls. "The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." He ran over and turned on the comms.

"This is UNIT central," a voice said. "What's happened up there? We just saw the president _assassinated!_"

"See," the Doctor said quietly. "Just after the President was killed, but before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asked.

"Trapped at the end of the universe," Rose told her as she stood up and brushed herself off. Her clothes were a little too long and slightly too skinny for her now, so she opened the Jacket and rolled up the hems.

"But I remember it," Francine said with a shaking voice.

"We're at the eye of the storm," the Doctor explained. "Any physical changes may disappear, but we will be the only ones who'll ever know." He spotted Martha's father, Clive, and ran over to him to shake his hand. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr Jones! We haven't actually met."

.

Suddenly the Master tired to make a break for it, running straight down the centre of the room. But he was stopped when he tried to get into the elevator, only to find Jack standing there.

"Whoa, big fella!" he cried grabbing a hold of him. "You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs," he said to a guard who handed a pair over and he handcuffed the Master's hands behind his back. "So, what do we do with this one?" he asked.

"We kill him!" Clive said instantly.

"We execute him," Tish put in.

"No!" the Doctor cried. "That's not the solution.

"Oh, I think so." They all turned to see Francine pointing a gun at the Master. "Because all those things, they still happened because of him. I saw them." She was shaking and was close to tears.

"Go on! Do it!" the Master hissed at her.

Slowly the Doctor walked over to her. "Francine, you're better than him," he said gently. He reached for her hand and she dropped the gun to the floor. He took her in his arms, before passing her to Martha and turned back to the Master, walking forwards a little.

"You still haven't answered the question," he told the Doctor. "What happens to me?"

"You're my responsibly," he said stiffly. "One of the only Time Lords left in existence."

"Yeah, but you can't trust him," Jack said going over to join the Doctor at the same time as Rose.

"No. the only safe place for him is the TARDIS," he said.

"You mean you're just gonna… keep me?" the Master sounded disgusted.

"Mmm, if I have to," the Doctor said simply before tuning back to Jack and grabbing Rose's hand. "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering fro too long. Now I'll have some people to care for." He smiled down affectionately at Rose.

But the smile dropped from his face as a loud bang of the gun ran through the room. They looked up to see the Master stumbling backwards, blood seeping from a wound in his gut. They looked back to see the dazed, traumatised Lucy Saxon let the gun fall limp to her side. Quickly Jack ran over to her and pulled the gun from her grasp. The Doctor ran to the Master and caught him as he was about to fall.

"There you go. I've got you. I've got you," he said, lowering him to the ground.

"Always the women," the Master tried to laugh.

"I didn't see her," he said apologetically.

"Dying in your arms. Happy now?"

"You're not dying, don't be stupid," the Doctor told him, looking down to check on the severity of the wound. "It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."

"No," the Master said.

"One little bullet. Come on."

"I guess you don't know me so well. I _refuse_," he grinned.

"Regenerate!" the Doctor shouted, finally breaking. "Just regenerate. Please! Please! Just regenerate! Come on!"

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you and your little girlfriend?"

"You've got to. Come on, it can't end like this," he said, the anger fading from him and tears filling his eyes. "You and me, all the things we've done. Axons? Remember the Axons, and the Daleks. We're the last, there's no one else. Regenerate!"

He paused a moment when he saw a faint golden glow, but looking up he realised it wasn't the Master. Rose stood before him, her eyes golden and her skin sparking as it had been on Satellite 5. "Rose," he whimpered.

"Well, crap," the Master rasped as he looked at her.

"Koschei," she said softly, using his nickname. She knelt down beside him. "If you die now, your death will become a fixed point in time… but only if you don't regenerate right now. If you die now, your plan for resurrection will not work. The ring will be lost." The master only shook his head and the Doctor looked up at her in horror. "I am sorry," she whispered. "I am so sorry for what your people did to you. The torture they placed within your mind." She placed her hands on his temples and her hands glowed gold. "I break the link. I set you free."

The light faded from her eyes and from around her and she slumped back in exhaustion. She raised her eyes to meet the Doctor's. His tears were about to brim over and he was looking at her, so lost. His oldest friend was dying in his arms. She could spare him the story of the future she saw that would now never happen.

"Goodbye," she whispered to the Master and placed a kiss on his forehead. Then she moved back slightly, giving the Doctor room.

"They're gone," the Master whispered in awe. "The drums, they're gone!" His eyes flashed over to Rose then back to the Doctor. "Thank you," he breathed. He closed his eyes and did not take another.

The tear finally slipped from the Doctor's eyes and he chocked on a sob as he pulled the Master's lifeless form to his chest. Rocking back and forth, he began to cry. Tears began to fall from Rose's eyes as she watched the man she loved let out a despairing cry. She wished that she could do something to help him. But there was nothing. The bond had come back as the Master had died, and now she could feel the full force of his grief. She could see what he was seeing, the images of their childhood…

.

Behind her she saw Jack talk to people and the _Valiant_ set a course back to the ground. After a moment the Doctor stilled, but still cradled the Master in his arms. She moved closer to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her with a tear streaked face and then she wrapped and arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. Sniffing, he rested his head upon hers.

Carefully he laid the Master's body on the ground and straightened him out. Then he turned into Rose's embrace. Neither of them said anything. They just held each other as the _Valiant_ headed to the ground. Simply glad to have the other in their arms once more, taking the comfort.

Around them the other's moved about, organising things and shooting sympathetic glances at the two of them. But neither of them cared. They only sat there in silence.

.

.

.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yeah, sorry, I thought there would be more taunting from the master… looks like there's not.<strong>_

_**And there is a reason Rose taking the drums away (which is my favourite bit). It is important to my future plotlines that the Doctor stay in his 10th incarnating (because we all love him anyway), so I will be completely cutting End of Time. Let's café it, End of Time was written for a depressed half crazy Time Lord at the end of his rope. The Doctor has no reason to be like this at that point in time. So it's gone, and this gives it reason and assures it. Plus I think that it's sweet that the master finally got some peace before he died.**_

_**Also, thank you Willow626 for the Time Lord Catnip idea!**_

_**So, one more chapter to go. I might even post it now, because I have it sitting ready.**_


	69. Last of the Time Lords, Endings

**Endings**

.

.

That afternoon Rose, Martha, Jack, and the Doctor organised a funeral pyre for the Master. The Doctor told them that it was vital that the body be burnt. It was part of Gallifreyan tradition, but besides that, he didn't want anyone getting their hands on the master's DNA. That could cause too many problems to think of.

Martha and Jack had left as soon as it got dark, but the Doctor hadn't wanted Rose to go. Though this was something very personal, he didn't want to be alone. So she stood by his side, not saying a word, sending him strength through their bond.

He walked forward and using a torch, lit the pyre. He stood back and took Rose's hand in his. They watched as the fire climbed higher and higher. When the fire had already began to lick at the Master's body, the Doctor turned and lead them away.

But Rose stopped them when she saw the glint of something on the ground. A ring was reflecting the firelight. She picked it up. She hadn't seen it before. Not really. She had never really noticed it on the Master's finger. But the Gallifreyan symbol on it was familiar. And she had_ seen_ this ring. She knew what she had to do.

Weighing the ring in her hand, she turned to the ocean and threw it as far as she could. They didn't hear the splash, but she could still see the image of it sinking to the ocean floor, never to be seen again. Satisfied that the Master could now never hurt the Doctor ever again, Rose turned away and the last of the Time Lords headed back to their home.

**?...DW…?**

They were both so tired, physically and emotionally, that the two of them fell asleep only minutes after they sat down on the study's couch. They had wanted to catch up and talk to one another, but it was barely a minute later that the Doctor lay sprawled lengthways with Rose curled between his legs, her head resting on his chest.

"Could you have saved him?" the Doctor managed to ask her.

"What?" she replied in confusion, her voice heavy with the sleep that was close.

"You've… you've done some incredible things when you use the Time Vortex energy. - Which really scares me, by the way, so please stop doing it. - Couldn't you have made him regenerate?"

"It had to be his choice," she whispered sympathetically.

"So you couldn't have saved him?"

"I already did," she replied. "He died at peace. He hadn't had peace since he was eight years old. In the end, I think he was happy."

A sad smile flitted across the Doctor's face and he pulled Rose closer to him. She was already out. And the moment his eyes drifted shut, he was asleep.

.

They were woken the next morning by Martha entering the study. She had stayed the night with her parents. But the both of them couldn't be bothered moving. Not even to open their eyes.

"What are you doing?" they heard Martha whisper. Before either could reply, they heard another voice.

"Watching them sleep," Captain Jack Harkness said quietly. "Not in a creepy way. I searched the ship for them, but couldn't see them anywhere. They always used to come in here by themselves. Just the two of them. I found them like this… it's nice to see. The Doctor I knew, the closest he came to admitting anything like this was when he thought she died on Satellite 5. He didn't say anything for a good two hours. And with me… I've never seen anyone so jealous before. And believe me; I've met a lot of jealous husbands."

"It is really sweet," Martha said. "I mean, I've caught them in moments like this before, but when they woke up or realised what they were doing they'd jump a mile apart. I don't think they did that before I came on board. Just when they realised that they loved each other."

"Only took them three years," Jack laughed. "The Doctor can be so dense!"

"Mmm, and this dense Time Lord has just heard everything you said," the Doctor mumbled, still not opening his eyes. He pulled Rose closer to him.

"He's right about the first part though," Rose said sleepily. "It is about time."

"Well are you two going to get up?" Jack asked them.

The Doctor opened one eye and peeked at Jack and Martha, then down at the drowsy form of Rose snuggled in to him. He really didn't want her to move. "Aww, do we have to?" he moaned.

"Yes," Martha replied. "There's something I want to do."

"Come on, Doctor. We can't sit on the couch all day," Rose said moving to stand up. But he tugged her back down.

"I beg to differ," he replied. "I haven't seen you in a year. I have every right to hold you captive on this chair for as long as I want."

Jack couldn't help but laugh. "Alright Doctor," he grinned. "But only if I can join you two."

The Doctor was up like a flash, dragging Rose with him, but not letting her go. "_So_, what are we doing?"

"Well," Martha said. "There are just some people I want to check up on."

**?...DW…?**

It was bright and sunny at the university. Rose spotted someone familiar walking down the path and she and Martha sprinted off towards Professor Alison Docherty. They ran in front of her to stop her. Martha gave her the bouquet of flowers she was carrying and Rose gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Just to say, we don't blame you," Martha told her with a smile. Then the two girls left, leaving the happy yet bewildered woman standing there.

"But… who are you?" they heard her say. Once they were out of ear shot, they couldn't help but laugh.

**?...DW…?**

The four time travellers stood, looking out over Cardiff bay. They leant on the rails, just watching everyone pass by. Rose was pressed into the Doctor's side. Jack stood beside her, giving her nudges and the occasional hug that made the Doctor give him a look. But she had a feeling of what was coming next.

"Time was," Martha said sadly, "every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you."

"Good," he said.

Suddenly Jack turned to Rose and gave her one last hug. "Back to work," he said climbing through the rails.

"I really don't mind, though," the Doctor told him. "Come with us."

"I had plenty of time to think that past year, the Year that Never Was," he told them. "And I kept thinking of that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor. Responsibility."

"Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that," the Doctor grinned. He made to shake Jack's hand, but grabbed it at the last second and pulled the sleeve back to reveal the Vortex Manipulator. He whipped out the sonic-screwdriver and began zapping it.

"Hey, I need that!" Jack cried.

"I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport," the Doctor replied. "You could go anywhere. Twice! The second time to apologise." Rose laughed at them.

"And what about me?" Jack asked him. Then he turned to Rose. "Are you sure you can't fix it? Am I really going to die one day?"

"Yes, Jack," she told him. "But I've told you. I can't change you back… even if I wanted to. They're going to need you. You are going to save _so_ many lives… Heck, you'll probably put the Doctor to shame!"

"Wait, what?" the Doctor asked turning on her. "You know his future?"

"Yeah, so do you," she told him.

The Doctor looked back at Jack and stared him up and down. "You're an impossible thing, Jack," he finally said after failing to see how he would know this man's future.

"Been called that before!" Jack laughed. "Sir," he saluted the Doctor who saluted him back. "Ma'am," he nodded to Martha who returned the gesture. "Time Lady," he grinned at Rose, Rose grinned her special tongue in teeth grin at him. Then he turned and started to leave suddenly he stopped and turned back. "But I keep wondering… what about aging? 'Cause I can't die, but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know," the Doctor told him, a smile on his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rose trying not to giggle.

"Alright, out with it, Tyler!" Jack said to her. "You kept making jokes for a whole day. Seriously, do I literally get a larger head? Oh, god! Please tell me that I'm not going to look like the Doctor when he_ looked_ nine-hundred! I mean, his head was about the size of the rest of his body. God, please tell me I don't become that!"

The Doctor looked offended and by now Rose was almost in hysterics. "No, nothing like that. But you know I can't tell you. I've already told you too much."

"Okay, vanity," he chuckled. "Sorry. Yeah, can't help it." he turned to the Doctor and Martha in way of explanation. "Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid back on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place," he said affectionately. "I was they first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me." He saw the stunned look that had suddenly plastered itself on the Doctor and Martha's faces. Err… maybe it was best not to know then… "Hmm, I'll see you," he called and ran off. But he was stopped by Rose.

"Hey Jack!" she called out to him.

"Yeah," he turned to her.

"The year 5.5/apple/26. Platform One. The Doctor, plus one on the guest list. Better remember that."

"Will do… Hope you enjoyed your first date!" And then he was running off again.

"No!" the Doctor exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Can't be," Martha breathed.

"It is," Rose grinned.

"No, definitely not," he shook his head in disbelief, his features contorting as amusement and shock battled it out.

"Definitely is," Rose laughed.

"No," he cried, his voice getting closer to laughter. Martha suddenly cracked into incredulous laughter. "No!" he said again. And this time he cracked. Jack was the Face of Boe! Oh that was just too bloody brilliant! It was hilarious. He found himself laughing till he was in stitches. Oh, poor vain Jack was one day going to turn into a giant telepathic head!

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor watched Martha talk with her family in their house as he leaned back against the TARDIS. It was the 24th of December, apparently. It was funny how time got away from you in a time machine.

Francine saw him out the window and nodded to him. He nodded back before turning back and waiting for Martha to return. He reclined on the pilot's seat, beside Rose, putting his feet on the console.

"You know, I will never understand why she lets you do that," Rose grinned at him.

"Everyone just loves me," he laughed.

"Yes, we do," she replied, and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

.

Martha held the phone to her ear and answered when someone asked who she was after. "Yeah. Could you put me through? Hi, I'm looking for a Dr. Thomas Milligan."

"Yeah?" she heard the familiar voice. "Hello? …hello?" Smiling, Martha hung up. She would have to pick up the courage to swing by and see him later. She had really liked him. Still smiling, she entered the TARDIS.

The Doctor's shock of hair pocked around the central column and he jumped up. "Right then! Off we go! The open road! There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or… back in time. We could… I don't know, Charles II? Henry VIII? - No, not talking Rose near him again. I know! What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie! I bet she's _brilliant!"_ He faded out and stopped running about when he realised Martha wasn't smiling with him. Rose had stood and was looking at her friend. "Okay," he said quietly.

"I just… can't…"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"I spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."

"Of course not," he smiled. "Thank you." He opened his arms and she stepped into them for a hug. "Martha Jones, you saved the world.

"Yes, I did. I spent a lot of time thinking I was second best, but you know what? I _am_ good! You gonna be alright?"

"I got Rose," he said pulling the lady in question to his side. "So, yeah. Always."

"Right then," she smiled. She gave Rose a big long hug. "I got your number," she said. "I don't want you two disappearing. If that phone of yours rings, _when_ it rings, you better come running. Got it?"

"Got it," they said in unison.

"Keep him out of trouble," she said to Rose.

Rose snorted. "This is the Doctor we're talking about," she reminded her.

"Good point."

"I'll try," Rose said. "Bye, Martha. You better call soon. Just…" she looked slyly up at the Doctor. "Not _too _soon." The Doctor looked confused at this and Martha burst out laughing.

"Gotcha. I'll see you again," she said. Then with one last look, she left the place she had begun to call home.

.

The two of them sighed. They were really going to miss her. Things just wouldn't be the same. Well… There wasn't much that would be the same anymore. So much had changed in the last few years that if they actually stopped to think, it would give them one hell of a headache.

The Doctor wrapped Rose in his arms and she nuzzled into him. "Ugh, the last year's been so horrible," she whispered. "I'm glad I have you back. I hated being so far away from you. If we didn't have the bond, I think I might have gone insane."

"Mmm, me too," he told her quietly. "Especially when the Master told me you were dead. Good thing you regenerated." She nodded into his shoulder. "Speaking of which," he held her out slightly so he could see her face, "how are you coping?"

"Technically it's been a year, and I'm still getting used to it," she said. "But I'm getting there. It helped just knowing that you were with me." Her nose scrunched up. "I didn't like regenerating though. That was horrible. I did like the new me, but I still like this me better. I'm glad I changed back."

"We should probably run some tests as soon as we can," he said. He didn't need to reply to what she had said, because he had thought she was beautiful no matter what. "Try and see if we can find what caused it."

"Oh, I already know that one," she said. "I've actually been changing since I took the Vortex in. We just didn't know. It was the TARDIS. You took the Time Vortex out of me, but I was already dying. When you let it go, the TARDIS sent some back to me to stabilize it and keep me alive. After that nothing happened until the Huon particles activated in me and Donna. Then they bonded to my DNA-"

"And changed you into the only thing they knew," he finished for her, now understanding what had happened. "Quite a bit of the Time Lord DNA is a result from the exposure to the Time Vortex. And you got the full blast… in that case; we should do some tests to see if it will go any further. You know, just to be safe. There are just two things I need to do first."

With that, he pulled her to him and kissed her. She met him with the same hunger and ferocity as his. But despite how vicious the kiss seemed, it meant so much more. Into that kiss they poured all their pain, all their love. They both wanted to make up for the year that hadn't been spent in each other's arms.

The passionate kiss lasted a very long time, until - even with their respiratory bypass system - they were out of breath. Gasping for air, and huge smiles on their faces, they stood with their foreheads pressed together.

"So… what was the other thing you needed to so?" Rose gasped out.

"Umm…" the Doctor blinked. "I can't remember. So, I vote that we just…" And his lips were back on hers as they gently stumbled back into the hallway.

Many things had ended in the last few days. And the one thing that they were both glad was ending, was their friendship. And now their love could stretch its way through the stars.

.

.

.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that's all folks!<strong>_

_**Yep, I have officially finished 'A Life with Rose'! (And yes, that WAS a suggestive ending there). But fear not, the story isn't ending yet. It's just that we're at 69 chapters and taking another series onto that would just be too long. So I'm carrying on, starting with Time Crash in the sequel 'Through the Stars' (Yep, see what I did there with the last few words =p)**_

_**I have enjoyed writing this SO much and you are all so completely brilliant! I hope you keep reading on in the sequel, and maybe even try out a few of my other Doctor Who stories.**_

_**(My personal favourites are this, 'Forgotten Past', and 'Footsteps.').**_

_**Please review! And I will see you in the sequel!**_


	70. Just an Author's Note

_**Hi Everyone!**_

_**.oO*Oo.**_

_**Sorry, if I got you excited… Well, actually, yes you should be. Because this is a message to tell you that the sequel 'Through the Stars' is now posted. So off you go! Scurry off and read the next instalment =D**_

_**Also, I just wanted to let you all know that I encourage all fan-art and spinoff fan-fictions of my stories. As long as you message me and tell me. Send me a link. I'd love to see what all you creative people do.**_

_**(And, just another reason I posted this note: I don't like odd number or things that aren't rounded to a decent number. 69 is just ridiculous! So now I'm happy be cause it's rounded, it's even… and it doesn't sound dodgy either - some of my immature friends were annoying me about that).**_

_**So, this is officially the end! Thanks for sticking with me!**_


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